


Celebration

by directium



Series: Daniel's Descension [4]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Also he gets into fights with ten-year-olds, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Daniel wants to do something nice but does a lot of mean things in order to reach his goals, Dead animals, It's all in the background, Mentions of Gwenvid, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Violence, Nikki makes him eat a bug later but the scene passes quickly, Once Again In the Loosest Sense, Redemption, Threats Against Children, mentions of vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-04 22:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13374807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/directium/pseuds/directium
Summary: Daniel finds out that Space Kid's birthday is quickly approaching, and a number of things make him want to get the birthday boy a proper gift. But due to circumstances out of his control, Max is placed in charge of him for the day and plans on taking full advantage of the position he's been given. And by 'full advantage', he means 'make Daniel's life as miserable as possible.'





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> God, this took much longer than intended to finish. But hey, the next part of the Descension AU is complete! And it's got a lot of good stuff. Daniel and Space Kid's friendship growing, Daniel wanting to fight a ten-year-old, and much more!

“—and if I add the B57 boosters here, it'll allow me to travel twice as fast when I pass through the planet's atmosphere!”  
  
Daniel raised an eyebrow. “That's...important, I assume?”  
  
Space Kid turned to face him, his smile wide. “Oh, yeah, _very_ important! If not...well, the rocket would probably just burn up. Might set me back a few years in my research. Or I’ll die, which will set me back even further.”

Daniel couldn't resist giving him a fond smile in return. “Well, then I hope they work properly.”

His smile growing bigger, Space Kid turned back to the little cardboard spaceship and continued to work while Daniel watched him with fascination. As usual, most of Space Kid's fancy scientific talk and space jargon went completely over his head, mainly from a lack of proper knowledge on the subject of space outside of his previous religious beliefs.  
  
But he could tell that Space Kid had such passion for the stars above their heads (or...where they would be had it not been the middle of the day. Oh, no, wait, Space Kid had mentioned something about them being unseeable during the day, because of... atmosphere...reasons? Questions for another time.) and that passion was definitely something to be admired.

And admire it, Daniel did. Ever since the night of the meteor shower, he'd been spending as much time with the little space case as he could. Assisting him with activities, listening to him go on and on for hours about his latest space-related craft or project, sometimes even helping him with said craft or project despite having no idea as to what it was they were doing.

He was the only one at the camp whose company that Daniel could safely say he appreciated. The only one who didn't annoy him or deliberately try to enrage him.

“Heads up, asshole!”

Daniel had barely a moment to react before something hit the back of his head and his face became acquainted with the hard ground beneath them.

_And speaking of things that deliberately tried to enrage him..._

Cursing, he pulled himself up to a kneeling position, his anger fading only the slightest amount when Space Kid hurried to help him up further. “Are you okay, Daniel?”

“Yes, I'm fine,” Daniel assured him calmly, as he stood up and looked around for the source of throbbing ache that now took up residence on the back of his skull.  “Something just hit me—”

He fell silent, his bad mood returning in full force as he noticed a familiar trio approaching from the direction of the lake. “Sorry about that!” Nikki said cheerfully. “Sometimes I don't know my own strength! I'm like Thor! Except without a hammer. Or the ability to control lightning.”

“Kinda wish it _was_ lightning that you lobbed at the back of his head instead of a Frisbee, Nik,” Max said, arms crossed as the group came to a stop in front of them. “Maybe then it would have killed him.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Oh, you want to see someone die with electricity, Max? I can help you with that, if you want.”

“No, that's fine!” Neil said, and quickly placed a hand over Max's mouth. “We're fine! No need for that!”

“Hey, guys!” Space Kid said. “Did you want to help us build my spaceship? I think with five people instead of two, the boosters will be attached a lot quicker-”

“Your spaceship's a cardboard box, Space Kid,” Max said, after he had swatted Neil's hand away from his mouth. “And you're hanging out with the worst fucking person on the planet, which makes you even more pathetic than usual.”

Daniel bent down to pick up the Frisbee. “Now, Max, I wouldn't go around calling people pathetic. It makes you a bit of a hypocrite.”

“Save me the insults, Cult Man,” Max said. “And give us back our Frisbee before I tell David about how you tried to saw your ankle bracelet off with a plastic knife yesterday.”

“Not that it's any of your business, but I was _not_ attempting to saw off my ankle bracelet,” Daniel pointed out. “It just has a bad habit of becoming...uncomfortable and itchy at the most inconvenient times.”

“Gross, I don't care,” Max said. “I'll tell him you were trying to saw it off anyway, just give it back.”

Daniel looked down at the disc in his hand with a thoughtful expression. “Let's see: I give it back to you, I provide you little demons with a source of entertainment, one you will likely use to physically harm me again. I toss this in the lake, I have to endure maybe an hour, two tops, of that foolish excuse for a counselor lecturing my ear off.”

Max glared at him. “I'll make it three and say you threatened me with the plastic knife when I caught you earlier.”

Daniel stared at him in silence as he contemplated his choices for a moment, before he turned to the lake and tossed the Frisbee as hard as he could towards the water. “Your misery is worth a lecture.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s real mature, asshole.”

“Immaturity for the immature, Maxwell,” Daniel said with a condescending smile. “Now run along and return to your own activities. You're interrupting Space Kid while he's busy with his, and I'm sure dear old David wouldn't approve of such a thing.”

“Okay _one_ , never use my full name again,” Max said, holding up a finger. “It’s fucking creepy. Two, using my own threats against me? Again, real mature. I thought _we_ were supposed to be the children here. And three, I hate you. That has nothing to do with anything, I just fucking hate you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” Daniel said, his smile gone. “Now beat it before I decide to toss the three of you into the lake along with your little toy.”

Max turned and gestured for the others to follow him. “Come on, guys. I think there's another Frisbee around here somewhere we can use.”

“Do we have to keep playing with things that Nikki can use to accidentally hit someone who tried to kill us in the head?” Neil asked. “Can't we just go back to science camp?”

“Only if you can teach us how to make some explosive chemical thing that I can replace whatever gunk Daniel uses to dye his hair with,” Max said, their voice growing softer as they grew further away. “Seriously, that _cannot_ be his natural hair color. I'm not the only one thinking it, right?”

Daniel shook his head and continued to watch them go, before he turned back to Space Kid. “I'm so sorry about them, kiddo.”

“Why?” Space Kid asked, tilting his head curiously.

“Well, they insulted you and interrupted your progress on your spaceship,” Daniel said. “Doesn't that upset you?”

“Aw, they always do that!” Space Kid said with a casual wave of his hand. “It doesn't bother me. If anything, it helps me learn how to work while resisting distractions! Which is a very important thing to learn if I'm to go up into space! I can't stop and stare at every single asteroid or star out there, I have a job to do!”

Daniel's scowl faded back into a smile as he seated himself back on the overturned log again. “You are far more patient than you should be.”

“The way you tossed that Frisbee was pretty cool though!” Space Kid continued, his eyes bright. “It spun so fast! Faster than the cool UFO toy my mom got me for my birthday last year, and that spins pretty dang fast! Ooh, maybe she’ll send me a Frisbee this year. Guess we’ll have to see tomorrow.”

Daniel's smile faltered a bit. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah!” Space Kid said. “My birthday’s tomorrow! My parents sent my gift in the mail and I’m not allowed to open it until then. No matter how much I want to… So I’ve been trying to come up with some likely guesses based on the size of the package. Maybe it’s another model rocket for my collection! Or one of Uncle Buzz's old space suits! Did I tell you about my Uncle Buzz? Well, he's not _really_ my uncle, but he lets me call him that because—”

“Hold on a moment,” Daniel said, as he slowly rose to his feet. “I...need to go discuss something with David and Gwen for a bit. Think you'll be alright out here by yourself?”

Space Kid nodded with a sweet smile. “I'm almost done with the boosters. Maybe when you get back, you can monitor my first test flight!”

Daniel gave him a nod in return. “Or, perhaps if the conversation lasts too long, I will simply see you tonight for our usual star-gazing session?”

Space Kid hopped up and down excitedly. “Okay!”

Daniel smiled and waited until Space Kid had turned back to his project, before he broke into a quick and urgent sprint towards the counselor's cabin. He paid little attention to the complaints from the campers in his path as he pushed them aside (“ _Not_ cool, Cult Guy!”) or stepped across their mediocre projects (“Hey, I spent a _week_ working on this dungeon map, asshole!”), and only came to a stop when he finally reached the cabin.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside. David was nowhere to be seen, likely busy with his ridiculous camp counseling duties. That was fine with Daniel; he didn't want any protests to what he was about to do. He stormed over to the file cabinet where David kept the campers' files and yanked open the top drawer, his fingers quickly flipping across the file tabs.

Harrison? No thank you.

Neil? Also not what he needed.

Preston? Absolutely not.

Max?

He pulled the file out and, after a quick glance towards the door to make sure he was still alone, he crossed the room and stopped at his bed before carefully tucking the folder between the mattress and the wall before returning to the file cabinet. No sense in wasting the opportunity to gain access some interesting blackmail material on the little monster while he had the chance.

He continued to flip through the files, more hurriedly this time. Nerris, Meredith (Ered? As if it mattered). Nikki (there were too many kids at the camp with names that started with the letter N). Neil again.

...Wait a second...

Perplexed, he pulled the file out and flipped back to the one between Harrison's and Preston's. Sure enough, the first 'Neil' was still situated in place between them. He pulled it out of the drawer and set it on the nearby desk before he flipped back to the other 'Neil' folder, which quickly joined the first.

He took a seat at the desk and opened both of them, eyes darting to the dates of birth. One of the Neils' birthday was sometime in the middle of February, while the other’s was dated for tomorrow.

 _Tomorrow_...

The February-birthday Neil's folder was tossed to the floor behind him almost instantly and he clutched the other folder with trembling hands as he looked at the word scribbled under the section 'camp'.

 _Space_...

This was Space Kid's folder.

Daniel continued to stare at the file in silence, his eyes darting to the information section. His name was Neil? Neil Armstrong Jr?

He knew that name...how did he know that name? He racked his brain as he desperately tried to remember where he had learned it, before his gaze drifted to the nightstand by his bed. He rose from the chair and hurried to pick up the small book ( _Astronomy_   _for Beginners_ ; a treasured gift from Space Ki-from _Neil_ ) he had left there after a night of reading by the glow of a flashlight he had 'borrowed' from the supply area, before he returned to the desk and quickly flipped through the pages he had already read.

Finally, he stopped on the chapter he'd been searching for; _The First Man on the Moon; Neil Armstrong_.

The first man on the moon.

His eyes drifted back to the file. Neil Armstrong Jr... He was named after the first man on the moon? How...had Daniel not known that? Why hadn’t...he asked?

An odd, almost painful sensation began to form in his chest and he could feel it spread to the rest of his body as realization took hold of him. He hadn't bothered to ask Space Kid about the most basic of information. Why hadn't he bothered to ask for his real name? Why hadn't he bothered to ask when his birthday was?

Even worse, why had he stuck to calling him by that cruel nickname that everyone else at the camp called him? Why...why did everyone call him Space Kid, and not Neil? Why did the little science brat get the privilege of being referred to by name but Space Kid had to be stuck with an unoriginal nickname? He certainly didn't deserve that! He didn't deserve a lot of the treatment that everyone at this wretched camp seemed to give him.

The insults, the underestimations of his intelligence... even David had been guilty of undermining the poor child on occasion. Gwen... well, Daniel couldn't remember a time when she had snubbed Space Kid... _Neil_ of the proper attention and respect he deserved, but he was sure it had happened at one point or another.

He didn't deserve any of that... He didn't deserve to have his name erased, or his birthday forgotten.

And Daniel could feel that strange, definitely painful feeling inside him only grow stronger at the thought of giving Space Kid...no, giving _Neil_ nothing but the same treatment that everyone else at the camp seemed to give him. The same treatment that he had once given him during his first visit to the camp. An awful, unfair treatment that a child as wonderful as him didn't deserve.

...He had to do something. Something to prove to Space Kid...to _Neil_ that he was worth so much more than how he'd been treated. But what could he do?

His eyes drifted back to the open folder. Maybe...maybe he could do something special for his birthday? Something wonderful to show just how appreciated he was? But what could he do?

His first thought went to the idea of throwing a birthday party, but he immediately shot that idea down before it could properly blossom. Not only would David and Gwen want to interfere and ask him questions he didn't feel like answering (why should they get involved in his plans to celebrate Space Kid... _Neil’s_ birthday when they could have very well made their own plans instead of ignoring him?), but the other children of the camp didn't deserve to participate in such a form of entertainment, especially with how often they mistreated him. Daniel grimaced at the thought of Max stuffing his stupid little face with cake and other birthday food (which he would probably steal right out of Space Kid... _Neil's_ hands) that he certainly didn't deserve.

The second idea was a gift, which seemed a lot more preferable and manageable. But how on Earth was he supposed to get a gift by tomorrow when he was confined to the campgrounds and miles from any shops? He could always take a page out of David's ridiculous and juvenile book and simply craft the boy something for his birthday, but despite his abilities when it came to purifying and sacrificing kids, he wasn't...the most artistically-competent person around. Mainly due to his aforementioned abilities often having a significant lack of color, minus the purple of the Kool-Aid and the red of the blood that would eventually stain the white clothing when his plans were complete.

And he had a feeling that such a thing wouldn't be the...most acceptable gift for a child. Or at least, not this particular child. He definitely would keep the idea in mind in case Max's birthday happened to be close.

He let the folder drop to the desk, and sighed irritably as he placed his head in his hands. How was he supposed to give the child a birthday he deserved while keeping his plans secret from a camp full of annoying people who were breathing down his neck twenty-four seven, and a severe lack of ideas as to how to do it?

“Yeah, I saw him run here a few minutes ago. I bet he's planning something!”

Daniel's thought process was cut off as he heard the sound of Max's voice approaching the cabin. He quickly rose from his chair, grabbed the folders from the desk and floor and stuffed them back into place in the filing cabinet just before the door could burst open behind him and he spun around to face whoever now stood in the doorway.

David and Gwen were staring at him with stern expressions that matched ones a parent would give their disobedient child while Max was peering out from behind them with a grin that made Daniel wish he had chucked him into the lake along with the Frisbee.

“Alright, Daniel, Max says he saw you heading towards the cabin by yourself!” David said sternly. “What are you doing in here?”

“I mean, honestly, if you're  _that_ desperate for alone time, we do have showers,” Gwen added, her tone not as stern as her co-worker’s. “Wait, did your religion consider masturbating a sin?”

“Gwen!” David said, horrified. “There is a child present!”

“Yeah, the child doesn't care,” Max said, as he pushed past their legs. “He just wants to see you two bust this asshole for doing something he shouldn’t be!”

With a roll of his eyes, Daniel gestured to Max. “First off, I would argue that you're less of a child and more of a hell spawn created out of the worst sins that humanity has to offer.”

“That’s original,” Max said, making a face.

Ignoring his comment, Daniel moved his gesture to Gwen. “Second, we did and you're disgusting.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Prude.”

Daniel let his hand drift towards David last. “And finally, I didn't come in here because I was planning anything.”

David waggled a finger at him. “Now, don't you try that! Max told me about your little Frisbee incident! Which we will be having a talk about later, by the way!”

“That doesn't mean I was planning anything,” Daniel said, crossing his arms. “They hit me in the back of the head with it, I punished them for it.”

David placed his hands on his hips. “Daniel, you and I both know that is an improper form of punishment.”

Gwen shrugged. “I don't know, I think I would have done the same if Max hit me with a Frisbee.”

“Hey, if I hit you with one, it would be out of love,” Max said to her. “Besides, Nikki was the one who threw it.”

“In any case,” Daniel said. “It wasn't a step in some nefarious and hypothetical plan to finish what I started and kill off the campers or anything like that. And neither was me being the cabin by myself.”

“Then _why_ did you come here all by yourself?” David asked, crossing his arms.

Daniel let his gaze drift to the space book he had left open on the desk and he snatched it up quickly. “I was simply fetching this for Ne-” He bit his lip. “-for Space Kid. I simply wanted to grab it so I could understand more of his space talk, and I think you can confirm that I had it last night, David.”

David’s stern expression melted into a look of guilt. “You _did_ have it last night. I remember seeing you try to pretend you weren’t awake while you were reading it.”

“I _wasn’t_ up reading it,” Daniel insisted. “But I still had it with me nonetheless. And I thought it would come in handy today.”

“Oh, come _on_ ,” Max said. “You really expect us to believe that’s all you came in here for?”

David turned to him. “Now, Max, I understand your concerns. But it really does seem like he was just coming in here to retrieve his book.”

“Then at least lecture him about tossing our shit into the lake!” Max said.

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps you should lecture Maxwell about being a little tattletale. I mean, he’s far too old to be running off to the nearest adult when he’s forced to face the consequences of his poor actions, don’t you think?”

“You’re far too old to be killing kids and you do it anyway!” Max protested.

“Okay, _okay_ ,” Gwen said, stepping between them with her hands up. “As much as I'd like to see a grown man fight a ten-year-old—”

“ _Gwen!_ ” David said disapprovingly.

“Oh, come on, babe, you know it'd be amazing,” Gwen said. “But in any case, as much as I'd like to see it, David and I have plenty of other fights to break up today and we don’t have time for this nonsense.”

“Is ‘breaking up fights’ code for ‘making out behind the mess hall?’” Max asked.

“ _Max!_ ” David said, once again disapprovingly. “That is not something you should be asking about!”

“Regardless of what it means,” Gwen said. “And whether or not it’s a code for David and I making out—”

“It is,” Max said. “I saw you yesterday, and it made me want to go pour bleach in my eyes.”

“Aww, and you _didn’t_ go through with that?” Daniel asked sarcastically. “Such a shame.”

“Your fucking _birth_ was a shame!” Max shot back.

Gwen sighed irritably and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, look, for the sake of ending this damn argument, why don’t we just come to a fucking compromise?”

“A compromise?” David asked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we let Max keep an eye on Daniel for the day while we tend to the rest of the camp, in case he’s right about Daniel being up to something,” Gwen said, pointing a finger at Max. “And yes, I actually _mean_ ‘tend to the rest of the camp.’”

“Oh my God, can I?!” Max asked with devilish excitement. “Can I _please_? I will never ask for anything again if you two give me complete and total control of that asshole for the day, oh my _God_ , please say you're serious, Gwen!”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me, but how is _that_ a compromise?! He already keeps an annoyingly-close eye on me already, not to mention I am a grown man and I refuse to be babysat by a _child_!”

“A grown man who _argues_ with that child,” Gwen pointed out. “Besides, you had fun when _I_ watched you.”

“You got me drunk and made me act ridiculous!” Daniel said angrily.

“Hey, I never _made_ you do anything,” Gwen pointed out. “And it's not my fault you're a massive lightweight who can't hold his Smirnoff.”

“Regardless, I will not be babysat by a _ten-year-old_!” Daniel said, his voice rising.

“Now, you watch that tone of yours, Daniel,” David said, his stern expression returning. “You know, I'm starting to think that Gwen might be onto something with this idea of hers to let Max watch you for the day. And if you’re telling the truth about not planning anything sinister, then Max can return to his own activities tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? That was Space Kid... _Neil’s_ birthday. If Max was constantly breathing down his neck until then, Daniel would have no time to think of something to do for him, let alone put those plans into action. There was no way the little demon would ever believe he was just trying to do something birthday-related, and would likely run off to tell David or Gwen some outlandish tale about how he was ‘lulling Space Kid…Neil into a false sense of security’ or some other nonsense.

And on the off-chance that any of them actually believed him, they would only want to intervene when...when they had no right to do so! They could have very well planned something for his birthday in advance, and he was not about to let them assist him with his own plans in some feeble hope of making themselves feel better about constantly undermining him!

“David, please, I am _begging_ you,” Daniel said. “Don’t make me deal with this brat for twenty-four hours straight. What about if I just listen to another three-hour lecture from you—”

David waggled a finger at him. “Hey, I know you barely pay attention to those!”

“Well...I’ll listen this time!” Daniel said, lying through his teeth. “I’ll do anything else you want, just please don’t let that horrible little child shadow me today.”

“He doesn’t want me to watch him,” Max said, his mouth curling into a smile. “That’s because he’s planning something!”

“No, it’s because you’re insufferable!”

“I’m sticking with Gwen’s idea,” David said sternly. “Especially since you seem so against the idea. Max will watch you for the day, and will report to us if he sees you doing anything suspicious. He’ll be in charge, so if he tells you to stop doing something, you need to listen to him.”

Daniel eyed Max, who was sporting a devilish grin and had his hands pressed together in a scheming fashion. God, as if he didn’t need _more_ proof that the child was a hell-spawn.

“Well, can’t you at least set some ground rules for him, like ‘no running off and tattling if there’s clearly nothing suspicious going on but he just wants to get me in trouble anyway’?” Daniel asked hopefully. “Because I have a feeling that he’ll be a constant disruption to you if you don’t.”

“I’m sure Max isn’t about to blow his one chance to actually boss you around by running to us if you so much as breathe in a threatening way,” Gwen said and turned to Max. “Right, Max? You only want to make his day miserable and not ours. _Right_?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll behave,” Max assured her before he glared back at Daniel. “But you know _he_ won’t! He’s not going to just _listen_ to me.”

“He’s not wrong,” Daniel said. “I’m not going to be ordered around by a ten-year-old.”

“If he misbehaves and refuses to listen to you…” David started, before he paused. “He’ll…”

“He’ll be stuck on cleaning duty for two weeks,” Gwen finished for him. “And that includes dish-washing duty.”

“That is unfair, Gwendolyn!” Daniel said. “You _know_ how I am about touching wet food!”

“Well, then you’d better listen to him, huh?” Gwen said, her arms folded. “Otherwise you’ll have a one way ticket to the mess hall sink.”

“Haha, Cult Man can’t handle a little soggy bread,” Max said in an amused tone.

Daniel glared daggers at them as David clapped his hands together. “Well, I’m glad we have that settled. Now, let’s all head to the Mess Hall for lunch, while Gwen and I head to the supplies room. Apparently the wood they used for the floor is older than we thought and the boards are already starting to crack.”

“Already?!” Gwen asked in disbelief. “Didn’t we _just_ build that addition to the Mess Hall a few weeks ago after we sold Daniel’s sauna parts?”

David rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes, but since I spent so much money on the supplies for the camp...”

“You didn’t have enough left to get the best kind of wood for the room itself?” Gwen finished for him.

David looked embarrassed for a moment. “Something like that.”

Gwen shook her head and gave him a fond smile. “Of _course_ you put the supplies for the camp first before the place where we’re supposed to store them.”

David returned the smile with one of his own. “Was that...a bad idea?”

“Not really,” Gwen said and gently nudged him. “I mean, it wasn’t _great_ , but your heart was in the right place.”

David’s smile widened before he looked back at Daniel and Max. “Well, the good news is, I’m handy even with the most worn-down and broken wood! So I’ll have it hard and sturdy in no time!”

“...David…” Gwen said slowly.

“Yep, realized as soon as I said it!” David said cheerfully. “But my point that the floorboards needs to be taken care of still stands! We don’t want anyone falling through the floor and getting hurt, do we?”

“Speak for yourself,” Daniel said, with a nasty look at Max.

“Haha,” Max said sarcastically as the two of them followed the counselors out of the cabin. “Just keep in mind, Cult Man, that I’m in charge of you for the whole day. And if I were you, I’d think about being a little nicer to someone with that kind of power.”

“You don’t scare me, Max,” Daniel said, as they stopped for a moment while David and Gwen continued onwards to the Mess Hall. “I know you’re afraid of me, and the kind of things I can and _have_ done to you in the past. And _will_ do to you in the future, as soon as my house arrest is complete. Despite your low levels of intelligence, you wouldn’t dare to poke a sleeping bear that much further—”

“Are those threats, Daniel?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow. “I think those are threats.”

Daniel gave him a confused look. “Of course they’re threats! What else would they be, you little idiot?!”

Max’s expression melted into a look of fake-offense, and he pressed a hand to his chest. “Threats? Insults? I’m offended, Daniel. Wounded. Crushed.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “What...are you doing?”

“With all these hurtful words thrown around, I might have to tell David you were being a jerk,” Max said innocently. “And you know, I might suddenly be in the mood for half a roll, only to leave the other half on my plate while it soaks in the sink. Man, I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with washing that. Maybe if that person said he was sorry for being so mean, I’d let bygones be bygones.”

Daniel crossed his arms. “If you think you can blackmail me like this, Maxwell, you are sorely mistaken. Besides, I can just throw your half-eaten food away before I wash the plate. And if I have to touch wet food as a result of not bending to your ridiculous whims, then it’ll be repulsive, but not enough for me to sacrifice my dignity.”

“Oh, I think it will be,” Max said. “Because it won’t just be wet rolls in the sink. It’ll be Nikki tracking mud on the Mess Hall floor right after you cleaned it. It’ll be Neil ‘accidentally’ leaving hazardous chemicals that you’ll have to scrub up. Hell, I could probably get the rest of the campers in on the fun of tormenting you while you’re stuck cleaning up after us.”

He batted his eyelashes in a sickeningly sweet fashion. “I mean, of course if you’re an obedient little cultist for one day, you’ll be spared _two weeks_ of that bullshit. And, I mean, I might be just a dumb ten-year-old, but even I know that one day is a lot shorter and easier to deal with than two weeks.”

That little _monster_. Daniel felt his scowl lower as Max’s evil little smile grew wider. If he didn’t know any better, he would have guessed that Max somehow planned this. That he knew David and Gwen would not only take his side, but give him this much power over Daniel for the day. But while he knew that Max was crafty (he would never say it out loud, but he couldn’t deny it either) and likely the spawn of whatever devil-figure happened to be real, he had his doubts that Max could predict things to even _that_ extent.

But despite the lack of foresight, Max had still been able to piece things together within the span of one conversation and twist it so that he would gain the upper hand over Daniel. Much like how he had willingly walked into a purification sauna with the knowledge that David would save him during Daniel’s first visit. And now he had dragged David and Gwen to the counselor’s cabin with the knowledge that they would take his side and make Daniel’s life more miserable.

Granted one of those had been a lot riskier than the other, but both events had proven one thing: Max was _smart_. Daniel could toss all the ‘low intelligence’ insult he wanted at Max, but it was far from the truth. Max was smart and crafty and...and he could give Daniel a run for his money with his abilities to manipulate situations to his own advantage.

Daniel’s grip on his book tightened with rigid anger. There really was no getting out of the nonsense that he would have to endure today without dealing with even worse consequences, and Max knew. He knew, and he knew that Daniel knew. If they had been playing a game of chess, Max would have been the one to declare checkmate while Daniel’s king was trapped.

“Well, Cult Man?” Max said smugly. “Are you going to apologize for insulting me or not?”

Daniel glanced down at the space book still clutched tightly in his hand. If he was going to be dealing with Max until tomorrow, he would have to figure out a way to work on creating Space Kid... _Neil’s_ gift in secret. Max or not, he wasn’t about to let that sweet little boy go without a proper birthday gift from someone other than his parents. He deserved better than that.

And Daniel could handle a power hungry brat for one day and scheme at the same time. It was nothing he hadn’t dealt with at other camps until Camp Campbell had come along.

He let out a long sigh as he looked back at Max. “...I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t sound like you meant it,” Max said, still feigning offense. “My feelings are still hurt and the urge to go tell David that you were being rude is still there.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “You’re really going to milk this for all it’s worth, aren’t you?”

Max raised an eyebrow. “I mean, wouldn’t you?”

Daniel opened his mouth to protest this, but promptly closed it again. “I’m...sorry…” he said in as sincere a tone as he could possibly muster.

“Eh, it’ll do for now,” Max said. “Now, come on, I’m starving and it’s pizza day.”

Daniel rolled his eyes as they began to head for the Mess Hall again, but Max stopped in his tracks before they could get too far. “You know...the Mess Hall is _so_ far away. And I did tire myself out earlier, what with all the Frisbee-tossing and then the running to bust you doing something you weren’t supposed to and then trying to hide it. I just...I don’t think I can’t make it unless someone carries me.”

“...You’re not serious.”

“I’m very serious, Daniel,” Max said with a wide smile. “Or, you know, maybe I should call you something else. Something…less threatening. I’m thinking Danny sounds good, how about you?”

“I think I’m going to slit your throat in your sleep if you ever call me that again,” Daniel said in a dangerous tone. “And I don’t think bossing me around and turning me into your servant for the day is what David meant by ‘keeping an eye on me’.”

“Yeah, and I don’t think murdering kids to appease fake gods counts as a religion,” Max said. “Or at least, not a good one. Now carry me to the Mess Hall, _Danny_.”

Another stare-down of sheer, intense hated took place before Daniel caved once again and headed for the Mess Hall with a grinning Max tucked under his arm.

It was only for a day, he told himself. Only one day of this torment and degradation.

Perhaps like Space Kid... _Neil_ , he’d get the chance to give Max what he deserved sometime before the day ended. A chance to finally get that checkmate he had lost in their last game.

“Walk faster, _Danny,_  I’m starving. Also Jesus Christ, your hands are colder than your fucking heart, so you’d better find some gloves because you’re going to be carrying me around _all day_. You hear me? I am not walking a _single_ step!”  
  
And good _God,_ did he hope he’d get that chance soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 will go up on Tuesday. Additional thanks to kuzann and forestwater87 for checking out early drafts and giving nice feedback <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Max begins to take full advantage of his new authority over Daniel while Daniel struggles with thinking of a gift idea for Space Kid. And, you know, staying in one piece.
> 
> (MAJOR, MAJOR THANKS to kuzann for being a wonderful beta <3)

“I don’t think my pizza was cut into perfect, asymmetrical squares, Danny.”  
  
“You call me that again and I’ll use your fingers as toppings in the next batch,” Daniel threatened as he slammed the over door shut. “Also, you and your friends can’t be back here while I’m cooking. I mean, unless you brats want to play with kitchen knives, then by all means.”  
  
“Oooh, can we really?!” Nikki asked and reached for the knife closest to her before Neil stopped her.  
  
“Hold on,” he said, and looked at Max. “Are we really sure that it’s a good idea to spend all day antagonizing him? I mean, I get it, but at the same time, he already wants our heads on a silver platter.”  
  
“Exactly, Neil,” Max said. “He _wants_ to kill us. The way I see it is we’re already on his shit list, and if we’re given an opportunity to ruin his day, we might as well take advantage of that. I mean, what’s he going to do to us then? Kill us twice?”  
  
“I can think of at least three things wrong with that statement,” Neil said.  
  
Max rolled his eyes. “ _Nikki_ thinks it’s a good idea.”  
  
“Actually, I just came back here to eat lunch with you guys because he’s the only adult at the camp who doesn’t care if I play with sharp things,” Nikki said, with half a slice of pizza in her mouth. “And the only adult who doesn’t care if I put weird things in my mouth.”  
  
“Again, that kind of ties back to the whole ‘wanting to kill us’ thing,” Neil said.  
  
“You two should listen to Neil,” Daniel said as he turned to face them. “I mean, except for when it comes to the knife thing. If you’d like to play with them, Nikki, I can tell you which ones are the sharpest.”  
  
“Awesome!” Nikki said cheerfully. “Are they sharp enough for me to stick through the sides of a mountain and climb up it like in the movies?”  
  
“No idea, but you can try it anyway,” Daniel said. “Either you’ll make it to the top and die from the lack of oxygen or starvation, you’ll make it up halfway before falling to your death, or it won’t work and you’ll get lost on your way back to camp.”  
  
This time it was Max who stepped in front of her protectively. “Don’t you give her ideas, asshole! Go back to remaking my pizza! And don’t forget, I want at least six pepperonis per slice!”  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes, then returned to the window that connected to the rest of the Mess Hall. “You’ll have to wait until I’m finished serving the other campers, Maxwell. Believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you.”  
  
“As if you actually care about everyone else,” Max said. “You just don’t want to have to do what I say.”  
  
“Shows how much you know,” Daniel said. “Which is clearly not much.”  
  
Max pointed at Harrison, who stood right outside the window with his lunch tray. “Alright then, prove it. Be nice to Harrison while you serve him. Oh, and, uh...when I tell you to do something, you have to call me ‘sir’ until the day’s over!”  
  
The little brat was clearly enjoying himself and the amount of power he had over Daniel, and it took every ounce of Daniel’s self-control not to take the meat cleaver on the edge of the counter and chase them around the camp with it. He could practically hear their horrified little screams in his head. What a delightful sound it would be.  
  
He inhaled and exhaled slowly in an attempt to collect himself and push those wonderful, yet intrusive thoughts to the back of his mind. He could handle this degrading nonsense for a day. He could follow the boy’s ridiculous commands. One day of Hell instead of two weeks.  
  
He could do this. It was just another game between him and Max. A game he was going to win.  
  
And that thought was enough for Daniel to turn towards the service window and place a slice of pizza on Harrison’s tray. “Here you go, Harrison. Enjoy!”  
  
Harrison did not smile back and stepped away from the counter a bit. “Um...thank you?”  
  
“What’s the matter?” Daniel asked, unable to resist the urge to smile at Harrison’s obvious discomfort. “Is something wrong with me serving you your food?”  
  
“Uh…” Harrison looked down at the pizza again. “N...No, I guess not?”  
  
“Well, then…” Daniel nudged the tray closer to him, his smile widening. “As I said before, enjoy!”  
  
Nervously, Harrison snatched the tray off the counter and hurried off in a terrified fashion. One that made Daniel smile wider as he turned back to face Max. “Good enough for you, _sir_ ?”  
  
Max’s own smile immediately dropped and he held up his hands. “Okay, no, that’s creepy as shit. You can keep the ‘sir’ thing going, but no smiling at me like that.”  
  
“Aww, what’s wrong?” Daniel asked with slight amusement over Max’s obvious discomfort. “You don’t like seeing me happy, _sir_ ?”  
  
“I just don’t like seeing you, period,” Max said. “Drop the fucking smile.”  
  
“How about I drop you down a hole instead?” Daniel said, his smile disappearing as he looked towards the top of the fridge. “Or perhaps your little friend could drop to the floor from there and crack her skull.”  
  
Max and Neil looked towards where Nikki had been standing just before the conversation only to realize that she was gone, then followed Daniel’s gaze. Nikki was perched on the edge of the fridge top with her head just barely touching the ceiling. She grinned and gave them a cheerful wave when she noticed them looking at her. “Hey, guys!”  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes and turned back to face the Mess Hall as the boys went to try and get her down (or perhaps they were just moving to the fridge to make conversing with her easier, it mattered not to him), but his annoyance faded quickly when he realized which camper was next in line for lunch.  
  
“Hi, Daniel!” Space Kid said cheerfully as he placed his tray on the counter. “Did you finish talking to David and Gwen about...whatever it is you needed to talk to them about?”  
  
“Unfortunately, yes,” Daniel said, and placed two slices of pizza on his tray. “And as a result of that conversation, I’m stuck with Max and his friends all day.”  
  
“Aww, well, that’s okay!” Space Kid said cheerfully. “We can hang out tomorrow instead! Or maybe we can hang out while you hang out with Max, Neil, and Nikki!”  
  
Daniel quickly glanced over at Max and the others, who had started a new conversation while his back was turned; Nikki was still on top of the fridge, which forced Max and Neil to strain their necks in order to look up at her while they talked. Hopefully they’d hurt their necks doing that for too long. One could only hope.  
  
“I’m just saying, I think you should make him eat bugs!” Nikki’s feet swung forward and back, gently bouncing off the fridge as she talked. “It’d be funny!”  
  
“I’ll see what I can do,” Max said. “You want him to do anything embarrassing, Neil?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Neil said with uncertainty. “I still think making him angry is a bad idea…”  
  
“So you’re saying you don’t want to try out some science experiments on him?” Max asked him, an eyebrow raised.  
  
...Well, at least they were distracted. But as much as Daniel wished he could have Space Kid... _Neil_ by his side during his day of torment, he didn’t want the boy to catch onto his birthday plans. And he certainly didn’t want him to be subjected to Max’s cruel insults, especially not right before his special day.  
  
Daniel looked back at Space Kid with a smile. “Why don’t we try and hang out tomorrow instead?” he said. “I mean, after all, it’ll be your birthday! Maybe we can do something special to celebrate.”  
  
Space Kid’s eyes widened. “Maybe we can play with the present my parents will send me! Unless it’s clothes. But I guess we can do something else while I wear my new clothes.”  
  
“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel said, his tone soft. “Enjoy the extra slice of pizza. Consider it an early birthday gift.” Daniel’s smile fell for a moment. “But you know, not your _only_ gift! Of course I’m going to get you more than just a slice of pizza for your birthday!”  
  
“You’re really going to give me a present?”  
  
Daniel felt that odd, tight (Was it painful? He...couldn’t exactly tell for sure) sensation in his chest return as he stared at the look on that sweet little boy’s face. He seemed so hopeful, so excited at the thought of getting a present… If Daniel couldn’t think of something, he... he’d be so disappointed. That hope, that excitement...it would be crushed.  
  
And while he was happy to crush the hope of any other kids at the camp, the painful feeling only grew stronger at the thought of Space Kid...of Neil’s soft, brown eyes full of tears and his expression heartbroken and destroyed. It was a thought he didn’t like to think about.  
  
He once again made sure Max wasn’t listening before he leaned over the counter. “I’m going to get you the best gift ever,” he said in a low voice. “I promise.”  
  
The almost-painful feeling in his chest seemed to fade as he watched Space... _Neil’s_ smile grow wider before he took his tray and hurried off to the nearest table.  
  
“Hey, asshole! My pizza’s going to burn if you don’t stop playing besties with Space Case and take it out of the oven!” Max said behind him. “And hurry up, I’ve already started preparing a list while you were busy talking to your new bestest buddy Space Kid. Starting with ‘getting Max’s pizza and cutting it _correctly_ this time, with the right amount of pepperoni slices on each piece’ and so far, ending with ‘let Neil test his latest experiment on you.’”  
  
“He talked me into it,” Neil admitted quickly. “I just...I can’t just pass up a rare opportunity where I can experiment on a human guinea pig and still have it be ethical. Do you know how many scientists would kill for that kind of chance?”  
  
“And I kinda want to see if I can get you to eat a bug!” Nikki added. “You think I can get him to eat one, Max?”  
  
“I mean, if I tell him to do it, he’ll have to,” Max said smugly. “He has to do anything I say today!”  
  
Once again, Daniel’s smile fell as he turned back to the kitchen and headed for the stove. Right... he was at the mercy of the worst child on Earth and his little demon friends.  
  
His eyes drifted to the space book that rested on one of the nearby counters and once again tried to relax as he pulled Max’s new pizza out of the oven. He thought about that look on Spa— _Neil’s_ face when he said he’d get him a gift. How excited he would be when he got it tomorrow. How happy he’d be that someone other than his parents had actually done something for his birthday!  
  
And it kept him going as he proceeded to cut Max’s pizza into the requested shapes. It kept him going as Max finally ate his lunch, before promptly requesting that Daniel carry him, Nikki, and Neil out to Science Camp. It kept him going as he passed by David in the middle of a call about the supply room floor, who let out a quiet sound of delight and a comment about “how nice it was to see him getting along with the kids” before promptly returning to the call.  
  
Daniel could only hope that it would be enough to keep him going for the rest of the day.  
  
\----------  
  
“I think I saw it move!”  
  
Neil looked up from the unidentifiable lump of fur before them to stare at Nikki. “I haven’t even shocked it yet!”  
  
“Maybe it’s not actually dead?” Max said.  
  
“After Nikki dragged it out of the lake and then all the way across camp?” Neil pointed out. “If it’s only pretending to be dead, it’s doing a great job.”  
  
Daniel glared at the kids over his book, but said nothing as he let his eyes drop back to the text. They were distracted, and while Daniel knew that this moment of peace was only temporary, he was going to take advantage of every second he could by staying quiet and browsing his space book for gift ideas for Space Kid... _Neil_.  
  
There were plenty of ideas within it that Daniel could work into his gift for him, mainly in the chapter after his namesake, but none seemed to particularly jump out at him. And the suspicion that he might be wasting his time looking through the book for some kind of inspiration began to rear its ugly head. Space Kid... _Neil_ loved space; but he didn’t seem to like one particular aspect of space, which meant it would be difficult to narrow down gift ideas.  
  
He lowered the book and let out an irritated sigh. Why did space have to be so...so massive?  
  
“Got something you want to say, _Danny_?”  
  
...God damn it. “No, Max. Nothing at all.”  
  
Max held a hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, who?”  
  
“... _Sir_.”  
  
“That’s better,” Max said, before he turned back to the others. “You know, maybe we should have Daniel shake it a bit to see if it does anything. I mean, if he has time to sit there and read his stupid space book, then he has time to examine this thing for us.”  
  
Daniel cast him a dirty look. “Absolutely not. No force on Earth could make me go anywhere near something so repulsive. And I don’t just mean the animal either.”  
  
“Oh, haha,” Max said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think you have any room to call us repulsive after eating five worms, three beetles and whatever that last fucking bug that Nikki dug up was.”  
  
“Whatever he was, he was a fighter!” Nikki said proudly. “I mean, even when Daniel bit into him and threw him back up, he still kept wiggling.”  
  
_Damn it_ , he’d been hoping the kids wouldn’t bring that up again. He held a hand over his mouth and tried desperately to force the remaining contents of his stomach down again.  
  
“Aww, what’s wrong, Danny?” Max asked with a grin. “Feeling queasy again? Maybe some wet food will help with that.”  
  
“I’m fine, _thank you_ ,” Daniel said calmly once his stomach settled. “And as for the issue of who is more repulsive, I don’t necessarily think it’s fair to compare the two, seeing as you kids are repulsive by choice, and I am unfortunately stuck in this situation through no fault of my own.”  
  
“No fault?” Max asked in disbelief. “You tried to kill all of us!”  
  
“And would that really have been so bad?” Daniel asked.  
  
“I mean, you’re the one who was legally dead for two minutes, so you tell us,” Max said. “Heck, with how cold your fucking hands are, who’s to say you’re not technically still dead?”  
  
“Still dead? You mean like a zombie?” Nikki asked, and hurried over to Daniel and shoved her hand in his face. “Bite me, I wanna be a zombie, too!”  
  
“You really want me to bite your hand?” Daniel asked her. “Because I don’t think you do. And if you don’t get your hand out of my face, then you’re going to regret it.”  
  
“More threats, Danny?” Max said, and crossed his arms. “Well, that’s just unacceptable. What do you think, Neil?”  
  
“I think I’d rather focus my mental energy on my project,” Neil said, without looking up from his tinkering. “And not push the ex-cultist to the point where he bites off Nikki’s fingers.”  
  
“As I said before, I’d listen to Neil if I were you, Max,” Daniel said as he pushed Nikki away from him. “He always was the smartest of the three of you. Though, considering the intelligence levels of you two—” He gestured to both Max and Nikki. “—that isn’t exactly saying much.”  
  
It was a risky insult, given his current situation, and Daniel felt immediate regret overtake him when he noticed the annoyed expression that crossed Neil’s face before he turned to face Max.  
  
“...You said something about having him come touch this thing?” he said, with a gesture to the furry lump.  
  
Max’s mouth curled into a smile and he gave Neil a playful nudge. “Hey, there he is! You heard the man, Danny! Come check and see if this thing’s alive.”  
  
“I will not,” Daniel said flatly. “Why can’t Nikki do it?”  
  
Max held a hand to his chest. “You would let dear, sweet, innocent little Nikki touch some filthy, unknown, possibly dead animal without examining it first?” he asked with fake-offense. “For _shame_ , Danny!”  
  
Daniel gave him a look. “ _She’s_ the one who carried it over here. Also, sweet? _Innocent_? The other day when she found a badger corpse on the edge of the campgrounds, she not only tried to hide it under her cot, but she asked me if I knew anything about taxidermy so she could stuff it when David and Gwen said she couldn’t keep a rotting animal in her tent.”  
  
“Well, I mean, the Quartermaster wasn’t around, so I couldn’t ask _him_ ,” Nikki pointed out. “An ex-cultist seemed like the next best option for that sort of thing.”  
  
“You could probably find him now,” Daniel pointed out. “And the corpse is probably still fresh, so stuffing the little bastard isn’t off the table yet.”  
  
“You think?!” Nikki asked excitedly. “Because I marked where they told me to bury it! Figured I’d either come back for it later or just give it a nice final resting place.”  
  
“Nikki, don’t let him distract you,” Max said under his breath. “We want him to touch the dead thing, remember?”  
  
“Oh, yeah!” Nikki said as she scooped the mysterious lump up in her arms and thrust it towards Daniel. “Touch it, bitch!”  
  
Daniel rose to his feet to take a step back from the lump. “I am _not_ touching it!” he said firmly, and looked at Max. “Also she  _just_ did and it didn’t move!”  
  
“I don’t care,” Max said, and he stood aside to give Daniel an unobstructed view of theater camp, where David was assisting Preston with an unknown task. “Because if I recall correctly, David told you that you _had_ to listen to me today! And if I tell you to touch this possibly-still-alive creature, then you’re gonna get your pasty ass over here and touch it!”  
  
“I am not a child, Maxwell,” Daniel said, narrowing his eyes. “You can’t—”  
  
“You have until I count to three before I call David over here. One...”  
  
Daniel felt another surge of anger shoot through him and his face started to go red, any thoughts of a birthday present momentarily forgotten as Max uncrossed his arms and held up one finger. The little monster thought he was so high and mighty, so invincible, so _powerful_ right now. What Daniel wouldn’t give to be able to slam his head against the ground over and over again until his miserable little skull shattered.  
  
“Two.”  
  
While Max held up another finger, Daniel’s gaze shifted past him for an instant to the opened space book on the edge of the table, and he was able to regain some control over himself. It wasn’t the time to try for a win. If he did what they wanted, he could return to his book and therefore figure out an idea for Space Kid... _Neil_ faster. That was all that was important to him today.  
  
“You really want me to go for three, Danny?”  
  
Biting back a comment about where Max could stick his fingers (preferably into a whirring blender), Daniel sighed and reluctantly reached down to touch the lifeless, furry mass that now lay at his feet.  
  
Suddenly, the mass sprang to life with an angry hiss and sank its sharp teeth into Daniel’s hand, and he jumped back with a loud screech of surprise and pain. While Max cackled with delight, Daniel shook his arm violently and tried to force the creature to release its grasp on him.  
  
“I guess it _was_ alive!” Max said between bouts of laughter. “Nikki, did you plan that?! That was amazing!”  
  
“Nope,” Nikki said, half-crouched as if she were looking for an opportunity to get in on the action. “But _man_ , that little sucker was really good at playing dead!”  
  
Daniel smacked the creature’s body against the nearest tree and it finally let go of his hand, righting itself as soon as it hit the ground and scurrying off towards the woods with another hiss. Daniel watched it go, his body shaking from the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as he tried to catch his breath.  
  
He heard Max let out a low whistle behind him. “Damn, that looked like it hurt! Good thing you didn’t let us play with that thing, Danny!”  
  
“Kinda wish he hadn’t run off, though,” Nikki said. “I would have loved to learn his ‘playing dead’ secrets. Maybe I could have used it to get out of doing homework when school picks up again!”  
  
“Maybe you should follow it then!” Daniel snapped at her as he clutched the bite mark (thank goodness the creature hadn’t broken the skin) with his uninjured hand. “See if you can’t catch it! Maybe it’ll give you even more rabies than you have already!”  
  
Nikki let out a laugh. “Joke’s on you, I’ve had all my shots! Not by choice, though. Sneaky doctors and their stupid tranquilizers… I mean, one little bite on the arm and suddenly _everyone’s_ freaking out and trying to tie me down to the table. I mean, if anything, I’m just giving the hospital more patients! They should be _thanking_ me!”  
  
“Oh, gee, I can’t _imagine_ how they must feel!” Daniel said with bitter sarcasm.  
  
“Dude, you got bit by a possum,” Max said nonchalantly. “And it didn’t even break the skin. Grow up.”  
  
“Well, so much for bringing it back to life,” Neil said. “You can’t revive something that’s already alive.”  
  
Max shrugged. “I mean, we could always go back to the ‘shock Daniel and see if he’s actually a zombie’ plan.”  
  
“I think I’ll pass,” Neil said. “As much fun as it would be to test out the effects of an electric shock on someone who was legally dead, I’m not about to waste my battery charge on him. If I’m going to experiment on him, it’ll be with chemicals. See how well they mix with his weird probably-still-super-detoxified insides.”  
  
“That’s dark, Neil,” Max said. “I respect that.”  
  
“Hey, I have an idea!” Nikki said. “We could try reviving that badger I buried instead! And Daniel could teach us those taxidermy tricks that he refused to tell me yesterday.”  
  
Max gave her a huge smile. “Hey, there’s an idea! And to add onto that, Daniel could go dig it up for us!”  
  
“Uh, no Daniel _can’t_!” Daniel said, narrowing his eyes at Max. “And don’t try to pull the David card, because he and Gwen are the ones who told her no in the first place!”  
  
Max’s gaze shifted to Daniel’s abandoned space book and Daniel’s eyes went wide. “Don’t you dare—”  
  
“Too late!”  
  
Max and Daniel dived for the book in unison, but Max grabbed it a second earlier than him and quickly rolled out of the way before Daniel could tackle him. “Too late and too slow, Cult Man!”  
  
“Max, you give that back!” Daniel demanded as he scrambled to his feet, one hand still outstretched. “That doesn’t belong to you!”  
  
“Hey, come on, Danny,” Max said with a grin. “Haven’t you heard it’s nice to share?”  
  
Daniel stormed towards him but Max quickly tossed the book in Neil’s direction before Daniel could grab it. “Neil, catch!”  
  
Daniel turned on his heels as the book landed in Neil’s hands. Daniel glared daggers at him as he once again attempted to reclaim the book. With a terrified yet determined expression, Neil tossed the book over to Nikki, who held it in her teeth and proceeded to scurry up the nearest tree before Daniel could grab her.  
  
Once seated on a comfortable branch, Nikki dropped the book in her hand and grinned down at Daniel. “Haha, Kool Aid Man!” Nikki said triumphantly as she waved the book at him. “Everyone knows cultists can’t climb trees!”  
  
Shaking with rage, Daniel gripped the nearest branch and proceeded to climb up—rather clumsily, to his growing shame—after her. “You want to bet?!”  
  
Eyes wide and grinning with anticipation, Nikki scurried up further into the tree with little to no effort while Daniel pulled himself up after her. He had to get that book back! Without it, he was completely idea-less when it came to the gifts he could get for Neil! Hell, he was already idea-less _with_ it! Without it…he was even less than that! He couldn’t lose the book!  
  
But despite his best attempts to keep up with Nikki’s climbing, she still remained several levels of branches above him as they got higher and higher into the tree. It was only a matter of time, now. She had to run out of branches at some point! “Nikki, I am serious! You give me that book back right now!”  
  
“Come on, slowpoke, don’t give up now!” Nikki called down to him. “We’re almost at the top.”  
  
“Nikki, this isn’t funny!” he yelled at her, already running out of breath. “If you don’t give me the book—”  
  
His sentence was cut short by the cracking of the branch beneath his foot, which was immediately followed by an abrupt and unpleasant descent towards the ground. Daniel made several attempts to grab other branches as he fell, but unfortunately his back was better at catching them than his hands were and it wasn’t long before he hit the hard, unforgiving dirt beneath the tree. The breath left his lungs in one big gust as he hit the ground, and he lay there struggling to inhale while the three of them laughed at him.  
  
“Haha, guess Nikki was right! Cultists _can’t_ climb trees.”  
  
Somehow, the sound of Max’s voice was enough to get Daniel to ignore the aches and bruises in his everything and pull himself up from the cultist-shaped indent that had formed from the impact. For a few moments he simply glowered at Max as he fought to breathe normally again. “I hope you’ve learned how to sleep with one eye open, because if not, you’re going to wake up at the bottom of the lake someday soon,” Daniel said, his voice ragged both from anger and from having the wind knocked out of him.  
  
“Man, the fall must’ve really weakened your insults along with your spine, Danny,” Max said, still smirking. “Because if I’m at the bottom of a lake, then I’m probably not going to wake up at all.”  
  
“You know what, I think I can live with that,” Daniel said, teeth gritted as he regained both his voice and the air in his lungs. “Now tell your little nature brat to give me back my book!”  
  
“Hey, you know what you need to do to get it back,” Max said, crossing his arms. “Go dig up and stuff that badger corpse for her.”  
  
Daniel gingerly rubbed the back of his neck; it and the entire back side of his body were a mass of pain. “I am not doing that! I just fell out of a tree!”  
  
“Hey, it’s not our fault you can’t climb as fast as she can,” Max said with a shrug. “Also that fall probably fixed the gross cracking in your neck, so honestly, I think you should be _thanking_ Nikki for that.”  
  
“You’re welcome!” Nikki called down to them as she began to climb back down the tree until she was perched on one of the lower branches. “And thanks for the workout, Daniel! You climbed higher than I thought you would! I mean, even David didn’t climb the tree that high before he fell out of it!”  
  
“I hope a woodpecker pecks out your eyes!” Daniel yelled up at her before he looked at Max again. “And as for the badger thing, there is no way I am doing that!”  
  
Max stared at him for a moment before he looked up into the tree. “Hey, Nikki, do you think you can throw the book into the lake from there?”  
  
“I can try!” Nikki said. “Just let me know when you want me to toss it!”  
  
“Will do, Nik!” he said cheerfully, before looking at Daniel again. “Does she need to toss it, Danny? Or are you going to listen?”  
  
Daniel could feel himself trembling with both rage and agony from the fall out of the tree, and for a split second, he considered forgetting about everything else (the present ideas, David and Gwen, his house arrest, everything) and instead only focus on wringing Max’s tiny little chicken neck.  
  
And while the thought of Max thrashing desperately beneath him as he wrung the life from his body was an unbelievably enjoyable one right about now, Daniel remained still while his eyes drifted to the camp several yards away from them, his anger momentarily forgotten as he watched Nerris mess about with one of her ridiculous fantasy games. Daniel couldn’t understand her strange love for such silly things. Why invest that heavily in something that was completely fabricated? Something she knew wasn’t real?  
  
...Then again, perhaps questioning such a thing would label him a hypocrite. Besides, his eyes weren’t locked on her dice or game board. Rather the various collection of colorful, stuffed animals she had arranged in a circle before her caught and held his attention.  
  
Stuffed animals…  
  
Nerris liked stuffed animals. Nikki...liked them in the more literal sense, but a dead stuffed badger could technically be considered a stuffed animal.  
  
Kids...liked stuffed animals.  
  
Daniel was vaguely aware of Max saying something, the boy’s words muffled from the fact that Daniel’s thoughts were focused inward, and chose to keep ignoring him while he sorted out his thoughts.  
  
It was like a lightbulb had gone off in his head. Stuffed animals… kids… Did Space...Neil...He needed to figure out a better name to use. Sweet Neil? _Sweet Neil_. Did Sweet Neil have any stuffed animals? Daniel couldn’t remember seeing him play with any of them. But would that be a good gift for him?  
  
And even if it was, would he actually be able to _make_ the stuffed toy? Despite Nikki’s bizarre assumptions about him knowing a thing or two about taxidermy being correct, his knowledge was still rather limited when it came to simple sewing or knitting tasks, and creating a plush toy was completely new territory for him altogether. He would have to take the time to gather materials, figure out exactly what it was he wanted to create, find a place to actually sit down and start working. Like hell he would be able to do all that in secret without Max eventually catching onto his plans.  
  
“Hey, Earth to Space Case Senior!” Max yelled, snapping his fingers in front of Daniel’s face. “Nikki’s going to show us where the badger’s buried. And unless you want her to do what you did to our Frisbee, I suggest you pick me up and carry me because when I said I wasn’t walking a single step today, I fucking meant it. Nikki’s going to stick to the trees, but hey, you can carry Neil too, if he wants.”  
  
“He wants,” Neil added.  
  
And speaking of Max...  
  
With a groan, Daniel picked up both boys and began to follow the sound of Nikki’s voice above their heads as she hopped from one tree to the next. Having to carry two ten-year-olds was _not_ helping all the injuries he’d picked up from falling out of the tree, and he was sure that any he wasn’t feeling now he would definitely be feeling in due time.  
  
But he had an idea for a gift. An idea that wasn’t fully developed yet, but it was an idea. And the best part of an idea was that it could grow and develop into so much more, if given proper time and brainpower.  
  
“Hey, Neil, what kind of shovel do you think he should use to dig this fucking thing up?”  
  
“Well, a normal shovel would be too big,” Neil said thoughtfully. “It might disrupt the badger’s already-weakened-from-decomposition skin, which would make stuffing it nearly impossible without it completely falling apart. I’m thinking maybe a garden spade might be better.”  
  
“What about his bare hands?” Max asked.  
  
“That could work, too,” Neil said.  
  
Much like when he had been carrying Max to the Mess Hall (he always seemed to have this thought when carrying bratty children to their destination), Daniel hoped he would get that opportunity soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gotta say, Nikki was definitely the funnest character to write this chapter. She's a DELIGHT. Also Max and Daniel still arguing like bitter stepbrothers is something I'm enjoying more and more with each chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions rise and ideas begin to blossom.
> 
> (MAJOR, MAJOR THANKS to kuzann for being a wonderful beta <3)

“Dig faster, Danny! We’re getting bored!”  
  
Daniel looked up from the hole and glared at Max. “Oh, I’m _so_ sorry. Perhaps if I were using a shovel to dig instead of my _bare hands_ , I could finish this a lot quicker!”  
  
“Hey, you heard Neil,” Max said. “It’ll fuck up the skin, because of decomposition or some shit.”  
  
“You know, the natural oils of a human hand might also have negative effects on decomposing badger skin,” Daniel pointed out.  
  
“Nice try,” Max said. “Keep digging.”  
  
“You know, I’m sure your little friend is probably getting restless up there in the tree. She could—”  
  
“I said keep digging.”  
  
Well, it’d been worth a shot. Daniel shook his head and obeyed Max’s orders, unable to resist the urge to ‘accidentally’ toss a handful of dirt in Max and Neil’s direction as his mind drifted back to the idea of making some kind of stuffed toy for Sweet Neil’s gift.  
  
He would need an idea of what he wanted the toy to be for starters. Obviously it would be space-themed, but that only brought him back to the fact that space was vast and endless and had an infinite number of things within it that could technically count as ‘space-themed’. But nothing really stood out to him as particularly... _plush_ -worthy.  
  
According to Sweet Neil, planets were apparently round, which was more of an ideal shape for a ball, not a plush toy. A star? Maybe, but there were already so many stars in the universe… It didn’t feel special enough.  
  
He noticed a few pine cones falling to the ground around the hole and could only assume Nikki was keeping herself entertained by hopping from branch to branch. He was tempted to try and climb up after her again to retrieve the book, but he wasn’t a fool. She was clearly more at home in nature then he’d ever be, and he didn’t trust himself not to fall again. He focused his thoughts back on space-related ideas as he continued to dig.  
  
A meteor? Meteorite? ...Was there a difference between the two? A rocket? As if he could craft one, real, fake or stuffed, without some sort of reference or supplies—  
  
Supplies…  
  
He froze for a moment and looked down at his dirt-stained hands. The supply room was full of supplies that David had bought for the camp (after rudely selling off the parts to his sauna). There were bound to be more space books there, ones he could keep better hold of and out of the hands of Max and his friends, not to mention supplies to actually _make_ the plush toy.  
  
“Why’s Cult Guy digging a hole?”  
  
“Yeah, this seems highly out of character for someone who’s heavily coded as a High Elf.”  
  
Oh, great, _more_ annoying campers. He looked up from his hands see that Ered and Nerris had joined the group; their eyes locked on him and curious expressions on their faces.  
  
Max pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, for one thing, Nerris, you have _got_ to stop assigning DnD races to everyone. Besides, if you were to assign him one, he’d be a fucking boring-ass human and you know it.”  
  
“...A fair point,” she said thoughtfully. “He doesn’t deserve to be one of the cool races.”  
  
Max pointed up towards where Nikki was still seated. “And two, he’s digging up a badger corpse for Nikki. David put me in charge of him for the day, so we’ve been making him do a lot of shit he doesn’t want to just because it’s fun.”  
  
“Wait, so he has to listen to you _all day_?” Ered asked.  
  
“Yup,” Max said proudly. “He pretty much has to do whatever I tell him to do or he'll get in trouble. I also let Neil and Nikki contribute some ideas, because the more he suffers, the better my day is.”  
  
“He fell out of a tree and ate bugs,” Nikki said. “It was awesome!”  
  
“Sounds cool,” Ered said. “I want in.”  
  
“Want in?” Neil repeated.  
  
“Yeah, I could use a test dummy for my latest stunt,” Ered explained. “Or at least something for the shark to chew on while I jump over its tank.”  
  
“What?” Max asked, brows furrowed. “Who said you were a part of this whole thing?”  
  
“Aw, come on, Max,” Nikki said from her spot in the tree. “We’ve had him for the whole day. Why don’t we let Ered have a turn with him?”  
  
“Now hold on a second,” Nerris piped up. “He still owes me a new dungeon map after stepping on my last one! If anyone should get a chance to use him today, it should be me!”  
  
“I think it might be a good idea to let other people get a shot at making Daniel miserable,” Neil pointed out. “I mean, why should we be the only ones to have fun?”  
  
“Are you kidding?” Max asked. “The more time we dedicate to letting other people fuck with him, the less time we’ll have for ourselves!”  
  
Daniel felt a surge of hope shoot through him as the kids focused more of their attention on the conversation about him rather than on him directly.  Despite the topic of said conversation being who would get a chance to make his day miserable, he had found that chance he’d been longing for all day. That opportunity to get away, to just get one moment of peace away from Max, to finally, FINALLY prepare a gift for that sweet, sweet little boy that was probably hard at work with his little space projects and thinking about how excited he was to get a gift for his birthday tomorrow.

His gaze traveled to the behavioral correction camp area that lay near the group, where Nurf was occupying himself with his favorite punching bag. If he was going to take advantage of this moment, he needed to make sure the brats didn’t follow him or try to stop him. He needed to make sure they were kept distracted while he hurried off to the mess hall.  
  
After a quick glimpse towards the kids to make sure they weren’t paying attention, Daniel picked up the nearest rock and tossed it towards Nurf with enough force to annoy him, but not so much that it would cause lasting damage and get him in trouble with David.  
  
“Ow! What the hell?!” Nurf slapped a hand on the spot where the rock had hit him and spun around immediately to locate the source, wearing a scowl that said someone was gonna get it for interrupting him. Feigning innocence, Daniel casually pointed towards Max and Neil in an accusatory manner.  
  
Nurf rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah, like I’m gonna believe _you_ , Jim Jones.”  
  
“One, Gwen already beat you to that nickname,” Daniel said, his voice low as he gestured for Nurf to approach him, “and two, get over here for a second. I have an offer you might be interested in.”  
  
“Yeah, right.”  
  
Daniel reached into his pocket. “There’s five bucks that I stole from David in it for you—” His words died in his throat when saw that Nurf had already began approaching him upon hearing the words ‘five dollars’.

“Yeah, alright, what do you need?” Nurf asked, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Daniel with a mixture of suspicion and interest.

Daniel raised an eyebrow curiously. Well, Nurf _had_ listened to him back during his first visit, even without a session in the purification sauna. He wasn’t exactly difficult to manipulate. “Alright, all I need you to do is keep Max and the other kids busy long enough for me to get away from them.”  
  
“Can I use my knife?” Nurf whipped his trademark blade out fast enough to make even Daniel flinch, which made him wonder how the other kids had managed to avoid getting stabbed by the little brute. Although he did recall hearing talk of David having taken it twice—once in each hand—at one point, and laughing for a long while as a result.  
  
“As much as it kills me to say no, I don’t want David coming after me for it,” Daniel said. “However, if you distract the others for me, I’ll not only give you the five dollars, but I’ll also turn a blind eye whenever you _do_ use it going forward.”  
  
“Deal!” Nurf said, holding his palm out. “Money first.”  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes and handed him the five-dollar bill that he had fished out of his pocket. “Fine. But you need to keep them distracted long enough for me to get to the Mess Hall without them noticing. Do you think you can do that?”  
  
Nurf scoffed. “‘Do you think you can do that?’ Are you doubting my bullying abilities, Kool-Aid Man?”  
  
“Once again, overdone nickname,” Daniel said with a scowl. “Just put your money where your mouth is. Or rather, your fists.”  
  
“Got it,” Nurf said, before he stormed over to where the group was still deep in their heated argument. “Hey, jerkoffs, it’s been ages since your faces said hello to my fists. And quite frankly, that’s just rude. They’ve wanted to know how you’ve been doing for ages, but do either of you ever call just to check in?! No, you _don’t_!”  
  
Max looked over at him. “Nurf, what the hell?! Why are you here?”  
  
“Maybe he wants a chance to make Daniel miserable, too?” Nerris guessed.  
  
“Hey, if I wanted to make him miserable, I would have done it already,” Nurf pointed out. “No, today I’m interested in making all of you miserable because again, you never even check in with my fists anymore. I mean, just because they like to punch a lot of people’s faces doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings for every single face they punch! Show some fucking consideration, you heartless bastards!”  
  
Daniel scrambled away from the hole as the conversation behind him got more heated and hurried on towards the Mess Hall. He came to a sudden stop right outside the doors upon hearing the sound of David and Gwen’s voices just beyond it, then backpedaled and dropped to his knees beneath the nearest bush. Mere seconds later the sound of the Mess Hall doors opening and slamming shut reached his ears.  
  
“Is it really going to take him _that_ long?”  
  
“I’m trying to convince him to finish it faster, Gwen, but he’s just not budging!”  
  
“Be firm, babe. Show him who’s boss.”  
  
Daniel peered out from the bush in time to see them walking past. David was once again on his phone, and seemed to be distressed by the conversation he was having with the person on the other end. “Now...now, you listen here, mister! You said you would have it finished by today! Now, I know you’re probably busy with other clients, and I completely respect that and I do hope I’m not coming across as rude—”  
  
“Alright, you know what, David, just let me talk to him,” Gwen said, with a gesture for him to give her the phone.  
  
They must have still been talking to the contractor about the supply room floor. Which meant they would probably remain distracted for the time being. Fine by him, he didn’t need them barging into the supply room and questioning why he was not with Max. He waited until they were a reasonable distance away before sneaking out of his hiding spot and heading for the Mess Hall doors.  
  
Once he was there, he slipped inside before anyone noticed him and began to make his way towards the kitchen. This was going a lot better than he could have possibly anticipated. Finally, _FINALLY_ something was going his way today—  
  
“The hell’re you doin’ in here, Two-Bit?”  
  
He froze like a deer in headlights right after stepping over the kitchen threshold and found himself face-to-face with the Quartermaster, who appeared to be hard at work chopping up a piece of meat. A piece of meat that, Daniel noticed, cut too similarly to human meat to be a mere coincidence.  
  
“It ain’t human,” the Quartermaster said, before Daniel could ask. “Ain’t against that sort of thing from time to time, but this is just hog.”  
  
Daniel raised an eyebrow curiously and straightened himself. How...had he known? “Don’t you...mean pork?”  
  
“Nope,” the Quartermaster said with another firm chop of his knife. “Hog. You here to help with dinner or what?”  
  
Daniel relaxed a bit. “Not necessarily. I just need to fetch some things from the supply room and then I’ll be on my way.”  
  
“Some killing-camper related things?” the Quartermaster asked, giving Daniel a one-eyed squint.  
  
“Not today,” Daniel said. “I’m just here to retrieve something from the supply room. But eventually.”  
  
“Well, you better hurry your ass up before I beat you to it,” the Quartermaster said with a wave of his hook. “And unlike you, I have the brains not to drink any sort of poison I’m mixin’ up.”  
  
Daniel’s eyebrow went up again. “You’ve...done that sort of thing before?”  
  
“Several times,” the Quartermaster said casually. “Joined three cults, started _two_ , was murdered by one of the ones I started. Good thing those bastards were as skilled as you are when it comes to mixin’ poison.”  
  
“Wait, did you say ‘murdered’—”  
  
Daniel’s question was cut off by the Quartermaster tossing his keys at him. “The blue one’s for the supply room. Or maybe it’s the red one. Either way, bring ‘em back when you’re done, or you’re gonna get the same treatment this hog’s getting.”  
  
“...Noted.”  
  
After staring at the Quartermaster with confused fascination for a moment, Daniel crossed the kitchen and stopped in front of the supply room door. He struggled with the lock for a moment (it was in fact the red key that unlocked it) before finally pushing the door open and fumbling his hand around on the wall for the light switch.  
  
The room was unsurprisingly immaculate and organized in at least a dozen different ways. Daniel could only imagine how long it had taken David to get everything in such perfect order. The thought of him somehow convincing Gwen to assist him crossed Daniel's mind, though he had a feeling that she wouldn’t take the time to organize everything alphabetically, by activity, by object size, and then by color. No, this had David’s stupid, camp-obsessed, little fingerprints all over it.  
  
He walked slowly around the outer margin of the room as he browsed through the shelves for any possible supplies that could help him put the gift together, though he could still hear the floor creaking beneath him and even stepped over a few holes where the boards had fallen into the space below. Had David forgotten to add the foundation as well? The thought of him slacking off on his job brought a smile to Daniel’s face as he came to a stop in front of one of the shelves.  
  
“Scuba-Diving… Search-and-Rescue…” he read aloud as his eyes scanned the labels. Finally he came to the box he was looking for and pulled it off the shelf. “Here we go: Sewing.”  
  
He set it down on the creaky floor and removed the lid. As expected, the contents inside were just as organized as the rest of the room. However, much to Daniel’s dismay, David had put the money he had received from selling the parts to the purification sauna to great use and had apparently purchased an excess of supplies for sewing camp, many of which Daniel could not identify, let alone use. A needle and thread, sure, but there were several different types of both needles and thread, and even more different types of fabric he could use to actually _make_ the plush toy.  
  
Daniel sighed and slid the lid back in place. Well, at the very least, materials were materials. And he could always figure out how to use them after he figured out _what_ he wanted to make. He rose to his feet and began to scan the labels on the shelf again.  
  
“Space...Space...here we go.”  
  
Once again, he removed the box and set it down next to the first. Much like the first box, it was packed full of well-organized supplies, including a number of space-related books.  
  
Daniel let out another sigh, this one of relief. He had more references. He had materials. He had a _plan_. For the first time that day, things were finally going as he wanted.  
  
“You sneaky mother _fucker_!”  
  
Daniel felt his moment of relief vanish as quickly as it had come when he looked up to see Max standing in the supply room doorway, arms crossed and expression even angrier than usual.  
  
“Max, get out of here!” he said angrily, despite the fact that he knew Max would do no such thing. “This isn’t any of your business!”  
  
“It abso-fucking-lutely _is_ my business!” Max said, punctuating the sentence by stamping one tiny foot against the creaking floor beneath him. “Oh, man, wait until David fucking hears that you tried to sneak away from me and paid Nurf five dollars, five dollars you _stole_ from David, to try and distract me while you hurry off to do some creepy cult shit! Which, by the way, I totally called. I _knew_ you were up to something!”  
  
Daniel scowled. “How did you find out?”  
  
“When I noticed you were gone, I paid Nurf five dollars that _I_ stole from David to tell me where you went,” Max explained.  
  
Well, _that_ was just on him for thinking he could buy Nurf’s assistance so easily and without any sort of afterthought to the idea that maybe if _he_ could manipulate the boy so easily, then others could, too. But he wasn’t about to dwell on his own lapse in judgement; he had the materials and references he needed and Max was not about to ruin this for him. Not after the absolute Hell he had experienced throughout the day under the little brat’s orders.  
  
“Max, this really is not something that concerns you and you need to—”  
  
“Need to _what_ , Cult Man?” Max asked. “Go tell David about how you’re stealing things from the supply room, so you can probably create some kind of weird cult torture device to finish what you started and kill us all? Because I think all of that counts as a crime, don’t you? Oh, and let’s not forget stealing money, too.”  
  
“Says the child who steals David’s cell phone on a regular basis,” Daniel said, narrowing his eyes. “Also I’m pretty sure the police aren’t going to care about me stealing  _five dollars_ , especially not when you did the exact same thing.”  
  
“Hey, I’m not the one under house arrest for murder, pal,” Max said. “I’m just an innocent ten-year-old. But you’re right: five dollars is probably not enough to get you sent back to jail.” His mouth curled into a wicked smile. “But stealing things from the supply room might be, and—”  
  
Before Daniel could react, Max pulled something out of his pocket and the tiny flash of a phone camera went off. “—now I have proof of that. Hope you like orange, _Danny_ , because you’ll be wearing it forty to life.”  
  
Daniel glowered at him and started to take a step forward. The floor creaked weakly just from Daniel shifting his weight, and he could practically feel a lightbulb going off in his head as his eyes found one of the holes in the floor near a shelf.  
  
“You know what, Max?” he said with a fake dramatic flair to his voice. “You’re absolutely right. I _am_ up to something. You caught me red-handed. You must be _so_ proud of yourself for actually accomplishing something for the first time in your life.”  
  
His mouth curled into a smile as he stood up with the boxes tucked under one arm. “Would you like to know what I was up to?”  
  
Max raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “You....you’re not actually going to tell me, are you?”  
  
“Oh, I’m absolutely going to tell you,” Daniel said innocently as he reached into the sewing box. “Actually, why don’t I just _show_ you instead?”  
  
Before Max could question him, he pulled out one of the larger spools of thread and hurled it full-force at Max. His aim was impeccable, and it smacked Max right in the middle of his forehead.  
  
“Ow! What the hell?!” Max said angrily, one hand pressed against the mark on his forehead as the spool clattered to the floor.  
  
“Oh, did that bother you?” Daniel asked, his smile widening as he threw another one at Max. “Bet this will bother you even more.”  
  
“You fucking asshole, knock it off!” Max said, his voice rising.  
  
“Why don’t you come over here and make me?” Daniel said with a smirk, taking a step back as he tossed another spool at Max.  
  
Max glared at him and began to storm towards him, stomping furiously across the floor with no regard for the threatening creaks and snaps his footsteps were producing. “Maybe I fucking _will_ , you cult bast—”  
  
As Daniel expected, the boards began to crack when Max was about halfway to him and completely gave out when he made it about three-quarters of the way. Max let out a shout of surprise as he tumbled downwards into what appeared to be some kind of hole beneath the floorboards, hitting the ground about five or six feet below.  
  
Daniel only continued to smile as he stared down at him. “Hey, looks like David and Gwen didn’t replace those old floorboards,” he said, amused. “And they were right about someone falling through and getting hurt. Wow, hearing myself actually say they were right feels so odd. It’s like… I’d better treasure this moment because it’ll likely never happen again.”  
  
“They’re gonna kick your ass for this, Daniel!” Max yelled up at him as he pulled himself to his feet. “You’re in so much trouble, I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed you and then sent your disgusting corpse back to prison in a garbage bag!”  
  
“I’m terrified,” Daniel said sarcastically. “But they can’t really blame me for your inability to hear a floor creaking and think ‘hey, maybe I shouldn’t stomp across it like an absolute moron’. Really this is all on you.”  
  
“I’m going to get out of here and kill you myself!” Max screamed, his voice starting to go ragged from anger and shouting. He made a jump at one of the hole’s walls, only slide off with nothing to show for his trouble but dirty hands and more frustration. “I’m going to get up there and force those boxes down your throat!”  
  
“Again, I’m terrified,” Daniel said. “But it very much seems like you’re stuck down there. The only way that this situation could be any better was if that hole was your grave instead of just some random pit beneath a rundown camp’s mess hall. Though that does look about six feet deep, so perhaps I’ll get lucky and you’ll drop dead while you’re down there. In any case, I’ll leave you to dwell on your failures while I carry out my _real_ plans.”  
  
“You won’t be able to if David notices you without me around!” Max said, his anger growing more intense. “Good luck trying to walk around camp without people noticing that something’s up!”  
  
“Well then, I’ll just have to be careful, won’t I?” Daniel asked as he stepped around the hole and headed for the door, boxes under his arm. “In the meantime, well...like I said before, feel free to drop dead while you’re stuck down there.”  
  
He could still hear Max yelling obscenities as he closed the door to the supply room behind him and locked it tightly with the red key, then headed through the kitchen again. He waved at the Quartermaster as he passed by the door and leaned in to set his keys on the nearest counter. “Hey, just a question, but you wouldn’t happen to know of a place where I can sneak off to to avoid having to listen to my irritating coworkers for _possibly_ breaking some rules, while also not breaking them, would you?”  
  
The Quartermaster stared at him for a moment, then pointed to the door that lead to the walk-in pantry. “There’s a ladder to the attic in there. Don’t touch the jars up there, I’m pickling things.”  
  
“...I would ask exactly what those things are, but I honestly don’t care,” Daniel said as he hurried towards the pantry door. “And thank you.”  
  
The attic was dark, and full of a number of different items; many of which seemed to be food related. In one corner of the room was a small lamp and what appeared to be a diary or journal, an indication that Daniel wasn’t the first to retreat up here for one reason or another.  
  
He crossed the room and stopped at the lamp, letting the boxes drop to the floor before he switch on the light. Not only were his suspicions confirmed about the diary and various food items (he also spotted those jars that the Quartermaster had warned him not to touch, and he was not surprised to find that he could not recognize whatever items lay inside if his life depended on it), but there was a number of other items he never expected to see up here. A bed and a dresser full of clothing (was this where Mr. Campbell stayed when he came to visit the camp?), a safe that further confirmed his suspicions about Mr. Campbell calling the place home during his visits, and a box full of spare counselor uniforms (why David kept them up there, he didn’t know nor did he care).  
  
He seated himself by the boxes and began to lay the supplies out in front of him, then took one of the space books in hand. He had the supplies, he had the references, he had the time… And he had the wonderful, wonderful mental image of Max cursing himself hoarse at the bottom of a pit in a locked room.  
  
Finally… _finally_ he had won.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No good deed goes unpunished, and leaving kids stuck in a hole always has bad results. But will those bad results keep Daniel from making Space Kid's gift?
> 
> (MAJOR, MAJOR THANKS to kuzann for being a wonderful beta throughout the entire fic. Thank you so, so much for all your help while working on this, I appreciated it greatly <3)

Daniel had no idea how long had passed since he’d hidden himself away in the attic, but despite browsing through all of the space camp books and even using pages from the nearby diary to sketch out any possible plush toy ideas, he still found himself unable to make a decision. He had barely even touched the sewing supplies since first taking them out of the box, and not even the other space-related items could give him any inspiration.  
  
Constellations weren’t exactly something he could turn into a plush toy. The Sun fell into the same category as planets; being too round to properly cuddle. Meteors (and meteorites, which apparently _were_ meteors that made it to Earth. Who knew?) were no good, either. And after reading several of the space books and coming across more than enough references, he had come to the conclusion that rocket ships were indeed too difficult for him to recreate in plush form.  
  
With a sigh, he closed the book he’d been reading and set it down on the floor beside him. Well, at least it was quiet. No annoying campers to boss him around. No irritating counselors to punish him for _not_ listening to the annoying campers. No Max to make his life a living Hell.  
  
Just him and his thoughts.  
  
He looked over at the other space books that were tucked away in their box. Now, if only his thoughts would come up with an actually decent idea for a gift. He needed to think of something special, something that would really make Sweet Neil’s eyes light up in that...well, _sweet_ way they did when he was excited. Something that was, not to be disgustingly cheeky, _out of this world_.  
  
Something that was good enough for him.  
  
The sound of his stomach growling broke the silence of the attic and he rose to his feet. He’d been hard at work brainstorming for a while now. Maybe a food break was just the thing he needed to properly kick start his ideas. And luckily, he was right above the pantry, where he knew Gwen and David kept their secret stash of snacks that the campers weren’t allowed to touch. He could sneak down, grab what he needed, and return to the attic without being spotted.  
  
He headed for the ladder and began to climb down, his back towards the pantry door as he descended, with the silent hope that Gwen had bought more of that spray cheese. It was waxy, unhealthy, and absolutely disgusting, but Daniel couldn’t get enough of it after the day he and Gwen had gotten drunk together—  
  
“A- _hem_.”  
  
His foot had barely touched the pantry floor when he heard someone clear their throat behind him in a scolding fashion.  He quickly spun around to see both David and Gwen standing there, arms crossed and their expressions furious.  
  
He stared at them silently for a moment, as his mind raced for some kind of possible excuse he could give them as to why he had been up in the attic with Max nowhere to be found.  
  
“...So…” Great start. “The Quartermaster needed help with preparing food—”  
  
“No I didn’t,” the Quartermaster called from the kitchen.  
  
_Traitor._ “...Max dared me to?”  
  
Without breaking eye contact, David and Gwen stepped aside to reveal Max, his hair and sweater filthy from the fall and his mouth curled into a wide, devilish smile as he watched Daniel, as if to say “You’re fucking busted”.  
  
“...You’re both dreaming?” he said hopefully.  
  
Gwen was across the room and slamming him against the wall before he had time to react. The impact got a strained whine out of Daniel as he tried to breathe against the weight of her pressing against his already-battered chest.  
  
“Talk. _Now_ ,” David said behind her, his tone surprisingly intimidating for once. “What were you doing up there? What made you think you could get away with trapping Max in the supply room?!”  
  
“Send his ass back to prison!” Max said as he pushed past David’s legs to make his way to the front. “Let him rot!”  
  
“Wait, let me explain!” Daniel said quickly, holding his hands up.  
  
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this,” Gwen said sarcastically, her grip on his arms tightening. “You’d better have a great excuse for all of this!”  
  
Daniel looked from her, to David, and then to Max, before his head fell in defeat. They would never believe any sort of lie he attempted to feed them, not now. With a sigh, he gestured to the ladder. “Look, just… go up there and see for yourself.”  
  
Gwen looked at David and nodded, and he headed for the ladder and climbed up to the attic to investigate. Her grip on Daniel didn’t weaken however, and she kept him pinned against the wall until David returned, boxes under his arm and a look of confusion on his face.  
  
“Why did you steal these, Daniel?” he asked, as he fished the diary out of the box (having likely stuck it in there to make carrying the boxes down the ladder easier). “And what are these weird doodles you put in Neil’s diary? ...Are you trying to summon some kind of demon?”  
  
So _that_ was who owned the diary. “No, you idiot!” Daniel snapped, his voice growing softer. “I was… I was trying to make something for Space Kid...No, for _Neil_. His name is Neil.”  
  
He narrowed his eyes. “But neither of you care about that, do you? You don’t care what his name is. You only know him as Space Kid! You didn’t even bother to ask, did you?! And I’ll bet you didn’t know that his birthday was tomorrow! You certainly didn’t care enough to tell me or to keep Max off my back long enough for me to make a gift, did you?!”  
  
Both David and Gwen looked genuinely surprised by this answer. “Wait...hold on, back up,” Gwen said. “You’re telling me that all you were doing was trying to make Space Kid a gift for his birthday?”  
  
“His name is _Neil_!” Daniel said defensively. “But...yes.”  
  
“Oh, that’s a load of bullshit!” Max piped up. “He clearly just wanted to trap me in the supply room!”  
  
“That wasn’t my original plan!” Daniel insisted. “It was...more of a bonus. But why do you think I was stealing all of that from the supply room? Or why I was so desperate to get my book back earlier?! It was all I had to help me with gift ideas, and I had to do _something_ after you little monsters wouldn’t give it back to me!”  
  
David’s eyes lit up as he set the boxes down on the floor and looked closer at the diary in his hands, his gaze occasionally shifting to the sewing supplies box as he mentally put two-and-two together. “Daniel…were you trying to sew something for Space Kid? Is that what these sketches were for?”  
  
Daniel looked away. “I...am not the best artist… But I just…. I thought he would enjoy something like that. My only issue was...I couldn’t decide on what to make. I was working on that when all of you found me here.”  
  
David’s mouth curled into a wide smile. “Well, why didn’t you just say so? We would have absolutely let you work on something for him if you had only told us! Heck, I know a thing or two about sewing, and I could have helped you—”  
  
“I didn’t _want_ your help!” Daniel said defensively. “Neither of you seemed to care that his birthday was approaching! And again, there’s the issue of the whole name thing—”  
  
“What?” Gwen said. “Of course we cared! We bought our gifts for him about a week ago.”  
  
“And started planning his birthday party about _two_ weeks ago!” David added cheerfully. “Honestly, the only reason we didn’t get around to fixing the floorboards in the supply room is because Gwen got into a...heated discussion today with the baker we ordered the cake from over the phone—”  
  
“Hey, the guy said he could finish the rocket ship cake we ordered by today,” Gwen said. “I wasn’t about to let him back out of that. We paid like...twenty-five bucks for a custom one!”  
  
“Wait... _that’s_ why you two were on the phone earlier?” Daniel asked.  
  
“How did you know we were on the phone?” Gwen asked.  
  
Well, there was no sense in lying now. “How do you think? When I snuck away from Max and his friends, I overheard you two talking while I was hiding in a bush.”  
  
“Well, in any case, we got that all figured out and the cake should be ready by tomorrow,” David explained. “But that whole thing distracted us from getting around to fixing the floor.”  
  
“Fine, so you did plan on throwing him a party,” Daniel said bitterly. “You certainly didn’t tell me about it, and you know how much time I’ve spent with him lately! I didn’t even know it was almost his birthday until earlier today! Were you just planning on not telling me and making me look like some...heartless jerk who can’t even bother to get him a present?”  
  
“Wait,” Gwen said, staring at him curiously. “Are you...really this upset over not being told about his birthday?”  
  
Once again, Daniel’s eyes were on the floor. “I… He… He doesn’t deserve to be treated the way that Max and his horrible little friends treat him. Or how any of the other brats here at camp treat him. I didn’t...I didn’t want him to see me and think I was… like them.”  
  
“Oh, come _on_ ,” Max said. “You guys can’t seriously be buying this shit! The asshole left me stuck in a hole!”  
  
“Because you’re an obnoxious little brat who has to constantly stick his nose where it doesn’t belong!” Daniel said angrily as he turned to glare at Max. “It’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to tell anyone about what I was doing! It was none of your business and up until now, I had no reason to believe any of you were going to even acknowledge Neil’s birthday at all! So why would I even consider trusting you enough to tell you what I was doing?!”  
  
“Okay, that’s _enough_.”  
  
Daniel felt Gwen’s grip on his shoulders loosen a bit and it was when his feet touched the floor again that he realized she had actually lifted him a few inches from the ground when she pinned him against the wall. He was grateful for the softer treatment, but her hands stayed in place. “Okay, if you’re actually serious about wanting to make Space Kid a gift, then we’re willing to help you,” she said.  
  
“I don’t need—”  
  
“If you didn’t need our help, you would have been finished by now,” Gwen pointed out, as she looked over at the diary in David’s hands. “Also you were right; your art looks like shit.”  
  
“If you want me to teach you a few things about sewing, then I’m happy to help!” David said cheerfully as he gently gave the sewing supplies box a tap. “I even have a sewing machine you can use back in the cabin!”  
  
“We’re willing to help you,” Gwen said again. “But you need to ask for it directly. And hell, if you don’t want our help, then fine. We’ll let you do whatever you want when it comes to this. But you need to be direct with us. No more sneaking around or lying or leaving kids in a hole.”  
  
“Well, technically, that wasn’t my doing—”  
  
“ _Daniel_.”  
  
Daniel looked at her, then to David, before his head once again fell in defeat. “I… I want to make this on my own. But… I suppose I _could_ use some help with picking an idea. I’ve...been having trouble deciding on what I want to make.”  
  
“And?” Gwen said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Daniel didn’t look at her. “...Will you help me?”  
  
Her and David exchanged a look, before she finally let go of Daniel’s shoulders. “Sure, alright. Since you asked.”  
  
“What?!” Max said in disbelief. “You’re seriously going to help him after he spent the entire day planning something behind your backs and then trapped me in a hole?!”  
  
“Now, Max,” David said. “We never said he wasn’t going to be punished for that—”  
  
“Because he will be,” Gwen said, arms now folded across her chest.  
  
“—however, his reason for sneaking around was not as suspicious as we originally expected,” David continued. “He just wanted to do something nice for Space Kid’s birthday.”  
  
“ _Neil’s_ birthday,” Daniel corrected.  
  
“Yeah, about that,” Max said. “There’s already a Neil at the camp. It’d just get confusing to have two of them.”  
  
“Well, why don’t we make things fair and call the inferior Neil ‘Science Brat’ for a bit?” Daniel said, narrowing his eyes.  
  
“Hey, no fighting,” Gwen said, and pointed at Daniel. “Or you won’t get any help with your gift! You’re already on thin ice as it is!”  
  
Daniel inhaled and exhaled slowly, as he fought back the urge to tell Gwen what she could do on thin ice (mainly to walk across it until it broke and she sank into the icy depths). He hated to admit it out loud, especially to the three other people in the room with him, but it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest as he followed David (the boxes tucked back under his arms again) out of the storage room and kitchen.  
  
“Honestly, I do wish you had come to me first, Daniel,” David was saying excitedly. “I can tell you exactly which materials would be perfect for a craft like this! Ooh, do you want me to teach you how to sew with fur? Because ooh, let me tell you, it might seem intimidating at first, but—”  
  
And the weight on his chest had been replaced with an imaginary vice that was squeezing his frontal lobe tighter with every word David spoke. But for once, he found the growing headache that seemed to form every time David opened his mouth a little easier than usual to ignore.  
  
\-------------------  
  
“You see what you can accomplish when you just ask other people for help?”  
  
Daniel looked up from the little alien plush in his hands to cast David a scowl. “Don’t talk down to me like I’m one of your campers.”  
  
“Oh, come on, you aren’t even the tiniest bit happy about having a gift for Space Kid?”  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes. He’d long since given up trying to correct him on calling Neil by his real name. “Well, of course I am! Though I only wish I had thought of something as obvious as an alien toy. I don’t know how it slipped my mind.”  
  
“Well, you were looking at a bunch of _nonfiction_ space books,” David pointed out, “which don’t usually have a lot of aliens in them.”  
  
Daniel looked at him again. “In any case, I...I think he’ll like it. A lot.”  
  
“And?” David said with a wide smile.  
  
Daniel paused for a moment. “...What? Am I forgetting something?”  
  
“Isn’t there something you want to say to me for helping you?” David asked. “Some polite gesture you’d like to make out of gratitude?”  
  
“Oh, I’ll give you a certain gesture later,” Daniel said, and let his gaze drop again. “But...thank you for the help.”  
  
“You said thank you, so I’ll ignore that first part,” David said with a smile, as he looked around the Mess Hall.  “Are you excited for the party?”  
  
“I think I prefer parties that end in the ascension of children,” Daniel said. “Plus I still don’t think the rest of the campers deserve to enjoy themselves on Neil’s birthday with how they treat him constantly. But...I won’t pass up the opportunity to see him enjoy himself and for everyone to treat him with respect.”  
  
David shook his head. “Well, I think Space Kid will appreciate you being here regardless. And I’m sure he’ll love the gift you made him.”  
  
“I don’t need your reassurance,” Daniel said. “I _know_ he’ll like both.”  
  
David stared at him for a moment, his smile widening the smallest amount. “You know, you don’t have to be that defensive when it comes to caring about him. I’m not going to judge you for it, you know.”  
  
Daniel glared at him. “As if I care whether or not you judge me for something.”  
  
“See?” David said. “That right there. You don’t _have_ to do it, you know. Nobody’s going to judge you for caring about someone.”  
  
“And you don’t have to run your mouth constantly and Max doesn’t have to do that thing where he continues living,” Daniel said. “And yet, here you are, and there he is over by the cake and attempting to sneak a piece early like the greedy little rat he is.”  
  
“What?!” David looked towards the dessert table. “Max, wait! We have to let Space Kid blow out his candles first!”  
  
“Well, then, Gwen should hurry up and bring him here already!” Max called, the knife still raised over Space Kid’s cake. “I’m fucking starving!”  
  
“Ugh, why do we have to wait at all?” Nurf said. “I don’t remember anyone throwing a party for _my_ birthday!”  
  
“Well, Nurf, your birthday isn’t until April,” David explained. “Had it been during the summer, we might have thrown one for you—”  
  
“Oh, I’m not blaming you for my lack of a birthday party,” Nurf said. “That was mostly due to my broken home life and the fact that I’m very intimidating to a lot of my peers. However, that being said, I’m still bitter.”  
  
“Too bad for you,” Daniel said sarcastically. “Honestly, I’m surprised David didn’t think to put together a huge party that celebrates every camper’s birthday, or some other nonsense.”  
  
The idea was supposed to be a mockery of David’s overly enthusiastic nature, but Daniel felt immediate regret as he watched David’s eyes light up. “Daniel, that’s a wonderful idea!”  
  
“It wasn’t an idea.”  
  
“We could host it right at the end of summer!” David continued excitedly.  
  
“No, we couldn’t.”  
  
“Right before our usual end-of-the-summer celebration—”  
  
“Every word you say makes me regret ever asking for your help.”  
  
David shook his head playfully as the door to the Mess Hall opened and Gwen stepped inside. “Come on in, birthday boy,” she said.  
  
Daniel looked over to see Sweet Neil enter the mess hall behind her, and he felt something warm swell inside him at the sight of the boy’s sweet little face lighting up at what awaited him inside. The excitement over the other campers celebrating him instead of demeaning him, the joyous look in his eyes that was reminiscent of what he saw during their stargazing sessions. The overwhelming pureness that Daniel had once tried so hard to achieve for the approval of false gods.  
  
“Hey, Daniel’s here, too!”  
  
The sound of Sweet Neil’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he only then realized that he was standing before him and David. “Of course he’s here, little dipper!” David said and gently gave Daniel’s shoulder a nudge. “He wasn’t going to miss your birthday! In fact, I think he might have something for you! Right, Daniel?”  
  
For once, Daniel could resist the urge to glare at David as Sweet Neil stared up at him with even more excitement shining in his eyes. “He does?! What is it?”  
  
“Why don’t I give you two some space?” David said. “Heh, space! You get it, Daniel?”  
  
“Go away, David.”  
  
With a laugh, David hurried away to assist Gwen with plating food for the campers. Once Daniel was sure that David was no longer paying attention to them anymore, he knelt down so that he and Neil were at eye level.  
  
“Isn’t this cool, Daniel?” he said excitedly. “I can’t believe that everyone threw me a birthday party! I mean, I didn’t know if anyone else knew it was coming up! Other than you, I mean…”  
  
He gasped softly. “Was this party... _your_ idea? Is that why you were so busy yesterday?”  
  
Daniel found himself smiling at this question. “As much as I would love to take credit for this idea, and believe me I would love nothing more than to claim all the glory and praise from you and throw both David and Gwen under the rug…” His smile fell into a thoughtful look. “Actually...why am I _not_ taking the credit for it?”  
  
“Idiot broke a hole in the floor and hid in the attic for three hours,” the Quartermaster said as he passed by them and headed for the food table.  
  
Daniel scowled at him before looking at Sweet Neil again. “Well, in any case, this party was not my idea. Instead, I spent all yesterday working on _this_ for you.”  
  
He held out the little alien plush that he and David had crafted, and once again, he could feel that odd warmth, that strange feeling in his chest every time he saw that look of pure joy (the look he was so, so grateful to see, the one he’d been thinking about for the past few days) on the sweet little space child’s face, spreading through his body.  
  
“An alien!” he said excitedly as he took it from Daniel and held it up. “Awesome! I’ve got so many astronaut toys but not as many alien ones! I mean, maybe it’s for the best, because then they don’t outnumber the astronauts. But this is so cool!”  
  
“You really like it?” Daniel asked.  
  
“I love it!” he said and hugged it close, its little face pressed against the glass of his helmet. “Did you make it yourself?”  
  
Now _that_ he’d take all the credit and praise for without hesitation. “Something like that. I couldn’t really go out and buy anything, with this—” he carefully tapped his ankle bracelet. “—still stuck on me.”  
  
“Aww,” Sweet Neil said, as he looked down at it. “The sticker I put on it is getting all dirty! And the fuzzy part is getting all flat.”  
  
Daniel looked down as well. Sure enough, the little fuzzy star that Sweet Neil had placed there a few weeks ago was starting to grow worn and dirty from his daily activities. He could even see one point of the star starting to peel off and curl.  
  
“I know!” Sweet Neil said excitedly. “I could always give you another one! Maybe tonight after the party? We’ll be watching the stars tonight, won’t we? I mean, we didn’t get to do it last night… But I guess that’s because you were making this!” He gently shook the little alien doll for emphasis. “Which is still super cool! But it’s also cool to look at the stars with you! You ask a lot of questions about them and it’s really fun to answer them!”  
  
Daniel could recall a time in his youth when the older members of his religion explained the concept of purity. It was something incredible, something that one would have to work extremely hard to achieve in their lifetime. Purity was warm, comforting… A sensation that overwhelmed you, overtook your entire being… As if comprised of sun’s warmest rays, embracing you like a blanket…  
  
He could feel a similar sensation welling up inside him as he listened to Neil speak. A warmth that originated in his chest and spread to the rest of his body when he saw that sweet little boy’s smile or his big, brown eyes bright with joy and excitement.  
  
It reminded him of the first night the two of them had watched the stars together. A good, overwhelming, _positive_ feeling that, for once, wasn’t fabricated for the sake of tricking children into sacrificing themselves. A feeling that didn’t have the slightest bit of negativity in it whatsoever.   
  
An actually _pure_ feeling.  
  
He never thought he would actually feel such a thing, not after everything that had happened to him. But once again, the sweet little boy before him continued to be full of surprises.  
  
“Daniel? Are you okay?” Sweet Neil asked in a worried voice. “You look like you’re in pain.”  
  
“I…” Daniel cleared his throat and exhaled slowly. “I’m alright. Just feeling a little odd. Perhaps it was that pork that the Quartermaster prepared for everyone.”  
  
“It wasn’t,” the Quartermaster said, as he once again passed by them with a plate of food in hand.  
  
Daniel glared at him before his gaze returned to Sweet Neil. “In any case, I’d love to watch the stars with you tonight. Maybe I can try and convince David to let us stay out there a little longer than usual, to make up for missing it last night.”  
  
“Awesome!” Sweet Neil said cheerfully. “And I’ll even bring you a new sticker for your bracelet!”  
  
Daniel felt his smile return. “I think that sounds like a great idea, Neil.”  
  
His eyes went wide. “You know my real name?”  
  
“Of course I do,” Daniel said. “Would you preferred it if I called you that instead of Space Kid?”  
  
“Aww, you can call me whatever you want!” Neil said cheerfully. “But there are two Neils here at the camp so that might get confusing!”  
  
“Well, I don’t see why the other Neil is the one who gets to be called by his real name and you’re stuck with a nickname,” Daniel said. “What would _you_ like to be called?”  
  
Sweet Neil paused for a moment to think. “How about whatever you feel like calling me at the time? It can be Space Kid, or Neil, or even Space Neil! That’s like both of them at the same time!”  
  
“I think that’s perfect,” Daniel said. “Today I’ll stick with Neil, and we’ll see about tomorrow.”  
  
“Space Kid, don’t you want to come and blow out the candles on your cake?” David called over to them.  
  
Sweet Neil looked over at him, then to Daniel. “You want a piece of cake, too? I can make sure you get a corner piece.”  
  
“That’s alright,” Daniel said. “You go enjoy yourself. Maybe make the other kids jealous that they’re not getting as much attention as you are today.”  
  
Sweet Neil smiled wider. “Alright, but I’ll have them save you some cake, just in case!”

“I appreciate that. Thank you, Neil.”  
  
Daniel could feel that warm, positive feeling return as he watched Sweet Neil...or perhaps just Neil, hurry off to join the others, along with a new feeling of relief. He...he had liked the gift. He was happy.  
  
And he was getting the kind of birthday he deserved. The kind of attention he deserved, from people other than just Daniel. And...and Daniel had still been able to contribute to his happiness, despite everyone’s attempts to try and stop him.  
  
Or rather… their unintentional attempts to stop him.  
  
Daniel looked towards where Gwen and David stood as they watched Neil attempt to blow out his candles before Gwen reached over to help him remove his helmet. They _did_ care about him, apparently, despite Daniel’s original thoughts. Even the other kids seemed to be giving him praise and smiles, minus Max who was being his usual, unlikable, little gremlin self and attempting to take more than one slice of cake after the candles had been blown out.  
  
Well...at least the rest of the kids were treating Neil the way he deserved to be treated. And for Daniel, that was enough.  
  
\----------------------------------  
  
“I hope those sauna-building skills will be useful to you today, because you’re going to be spending all of it fixing this hole!”  
  
Daniel glared at David. “I didn’t even make this hole! Max did!”  
  
“And you didn’t bother to help him out of it, or even warn him about the creaking floor!” David said, arms crossed. “Plus, he didn’t get to finish his day of watching you and I think it’s only fair that he gets the time he missed.”  
  
“How is that fair?!” Daniel asked angrily.  
  
“It’s fair to me,” Max said smugly as he seated himself in the little folding chair he had dragged into the room. “And I’ve got no plans for the day other than to sit here and keep you from sneaking off and doing more shady bullshit.”  
  
“I was literally just trying to prepare a gift for Neil!”  
  
“A likely story,” Max said.  
  
“It’s not a story!” Daniel pointed out. “You _saw_ me give him the gift!”  
  
“Alright, that’s enough,” David said, and handed him a hammer. “And don’t think I won’t check your work after you’re finished, because I will! And...don’t get any ideas about that pit down there! The first thing Gwen and I will be doing is contacting someone to come and finish the room’s foundation. So no funny business!”  
  
“Don’t worry, David,” Max said, hands on the arms of the seat. “I’ll be watching him all day and keeping an eye on his every move.”  
  
Daniel glared at him as David headed for the door. “And be quick about fixing the hole, because there’s a whole list of chores waiting for you when you’re finished!”  
  
Daniel sighed and turned towards the hole, only to feel something hit the back of his head and clatter to the floor near him. He looked down to see an unraveled spool of thread by his foot.  
  
“Figured I’d pay you back for your little stunt earlier,” Max said from behind him, which was followed up by another spool to the head. “Consider it the first of several. Because oh, man, two weeks is a long time, and the other campers and I came to an agreement on who gets to torment you and when. Tonight it’s Nikki, who is still pretty annoyed that she didn’t get her stuffed badger from you. So I think you owe her both an apology and a new badger. Hope you know how to set a badger trap, because she wants a live one this time.”  
  
Once again, Daniel shot him a dirty look before he scooped up the spools and headed for the sewing supplies box, which had been tucked back into place on its shelf. He looked over at the other box that he had taken, the one assigned to holding the supplies for space camp.  
  
Despite knowing that he’d probably spend the majority of the day in that room fixing the floor, and a constant flood of insults and jeers from Max, Daniel couldn’t help but smile as he put the spools away and headed back to the hole, with the curious thought of whether or not Neil (Sweet, wonderful, precious Neil) would have that little alien of his cradled safely in his arms as they watched the stars that night.  
  
And somehow, such a thought made the day of fixing the floor while Max tossed insults and objects at him a little more tolerable. Just a little more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the next part of the Descension AU is done! I don't know when I plan on working on the next next part, but unless I get another idea in the meantime, it'll be the part of the AU that comes RIGHT before Exception. Heh...hehe.... Get excited for that.


End file.
